T3-V
by Nikki1212
Summary: Complacency kills. Sakura knows that better than anyone. And it was because she was complacent that she needs to commit the unspeakable to survive, it was her negligence that allowed Kabuto to capture and inject her with the T3-Virus. Now, as a dead woman walking, Sakura needs to find a cure to save herself...and maybe even humanity. Or else remain in exile forever. Pairing Undec
1. Prologue: The Last of Us

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

 ** _A/N: Let me know if this sparks your interests, guys! I'm working on my other stuff too! This was inspired by iZombie and The Last of Us._**

* * *

PROLOGUE

* * *

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It all started with a snake.

Which, in retrospect, was the defining sentence in _all_ of Sakura's problems. See, even after the bloodiest and shortest war to date, for some reason, the Hidden Villages had decided to let public enemy number one, Orochimaru, and his cronies go free without _any_ sort of punishment. To her immense surprise, he was put into the custody of the Hidden Leaf and thusly ignored. But, like most instances of catastrophic proportion, the Leaf had not handled it well and Orochimaru—despite having his prior experiment guard him for every minute of the hour—escaped.

Sakura still had nightmares about the man, so it did _wonderful_ things to her psyche to see him gallivanting about the village like he'd done nothing wrong in his entire life. She had even implored Kakashi, as the Rokudaime, to pursue execution or some other punishment for all the villainous acts Orochimaru had committed in his lifetime—preferably one where he rotted away in a cold, dark cell for the rest of his life—as she'd never truly forgiven him for ruining all of what Team 7 had and could have been.

Regrettably, with this new era of peace, archaic methods of punishment were done away with—and that included execution. Instead, Orochimaru was to be fully inducted as a shinobi of the Leaf and was even _allowed_ to keep his former bases in Sound. The council deemed it prudent that they seize all of Sound's assets under the guise of analyzing all of Kabuto's research to make advancements in the medical field, therefore improving the longevity of Konoha ninja in the battlefield.

But Sakura would rather cut off her own hands than use Kabuto's research to save lives when all he'd done to compile said research was torture and take them.

So when the day she'd been anticipating arrived, (because Sakura knew better than anyone else, barring Sasuke and Anko, that Orochimaru would escape) she had jumped on the opportunity to be on the Hunter team to bring him back and _finally_ do what should have been done _years_ ago.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru was as slippery as his namesake. They spent months upturning every rock, checking every source, every sighting, and every lead without result. They had even recruited the ever elusive Sasuke's aid, and he—with his monosyllabic answers—was barely any help. The Hunter team had returned to Konoha after six months with the weight of failure draping itself across their shoulders, and Sakura was never able to escape a persistent feeling of dread for a future with Orochimaru in it.

Honestly, she should have known that her business with him wasn't finished—that Orochimaru would be a constant nightmare in her life for as long as she lived. And no nightmare of hers was complete without being strapped, spread-eagle, to a table with a grotesque looking Kabuto looming over her with an ominous syringe.

Which was her current, unfortunate predicament.

War had not been kind to him, and fusing and de-fusing with Orochimaru's essence even less so.

Jerking against the leather chakra suppressing straps binding her neck, wrists, and ankles to a cold slab in one of Sound's hidden bases—one that not even Konoha knew of, Sakura bared her teeth as Kabuto checked and annotated the dosage in the syringe in a thick file.

"What are you going to do me?" Her voice was full of vitriol and rage as she tried to summon her chakra without result.

Kabuto ignored her as he calmly tied a band tightly around her bicep, tapping her vein none too gently, before sterilizing the area with an alcohol swab. Sakura's heart beat a frantic drum in her chest as he picked up the syringe and took a seat next to her straining form.

"Kabuto, you rat bastard, _what are you doing?"_

Kabuto tutted. "Language, Sakura-chan."

Sakura almost screeched with rage, but instead chose to focus what little chakra she could feel inwards in preparation to synthesize whatever it was that Kabuto planned on injecting her with. She wasn't stupid; she knew that Kabuto had plans to use her in one of his twisted experiments and there was no way she was going to let herself die from it.

Whatever _"it"_ was.

"Well," Kabuto hummed, as if doing her a great favor. "As a fellow medic, I suppose I should at least give you the courtesy of knowing how vital your participation in this project is."

Remaining silent, Sakura willed away the rising panic. She was having difficulties gathering her chakra; Kabuto had left her with the bare minimum to function—definitely not enough to perform any type of medical ninjutsu or escape. With nauseating dread, Sakura knew that she would not be able to survive whatever it was that Kabuto had planned for her—with her normal mental and bodily capabilities intact, at least—without some type of divine intervention.

"You see," Kabuto started, his voice saccharine as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Orochimaru-sama was most disappointed in hearing about your opposition to his reinstatement as a Konoha shinobi."

"We should have executed him when we had the chance," Sakura spat, tugging at her arm whose lack of circulation was quickly becoming painful. "As if Orochimaru would ever give up his pursuit of immortality."

Kabuto chuckled, "Always so smart, Sakura-chan."

Leaning back, the spectacled man toyed with the syringe in his hand as he observed her struggle with her restraints.

"You're correct. Orochimaru-sama has ambitions far too grand for the Hidden Leaf—ambitions they don't understand. They were fools to assume that he'd let it all go as easily as they let him join their ranks.

And you little Leafs are always so foolish."

Kabuto grinned as he stood, uncapping the syringe as he did so.

"Because of his rather _short_ imprisonment, if you could even call it that, Orochimaru-sama's advancements in the Cursed Seal's development were lost to your village's Research and War Crimes department; which put me, the sole researcher of the Cursed Seal's effects, in quite the bind."

Sakura bit back a whimper as Kabuto's steely grip came down on her arm, her wide eyes observing the needle as it dimpled her skin. She had no sense of grandeur when it came to her abilities—she knew just as well as anyone the peak of her own mortality; and the fact that he held it in his mottled hands terrified her. Her breaths came in shorts pants as Kabuto paused, his gaze turning thoughtful even as his lips curled sinisterly. Leaning back, he stroked a calloused thumb along the sensitive skin over the bend of her elbow.

"You see, I've had to start over," he said conversationally, lips pursing mockingly. "I've had to develop a _new_ Cursed Seal, one without the potential for error and rejection like its predecessors."

Sakura listened warily and with curdling disgust as Kabuto went on to describe the gruesome experiments he conducted on displaced civilians while his master resided in Konoha. Orochimaru wanted a cursed seal that encompassed the same parameters of those previous but with the added advantage of immortality by soul consumption.

The snake wanted a cursed seal that would leech away its bearer's essence until it was nothing more than an empty shell, until it couldn't refuse Orochimaru's hostile takeover. To counteract the unavoidable act of aging, Kabuto designed a sister seal that would gather the life force of its recipient until it was ready to be harvested for Orochimaru's use.

Sakura's disgust morphed into horror as Kabuto relayed, with mock sadness, how each trial run was met with disastrous results. He hypothesized that the seal had not had a proper conduit, nor a proper base, and test subjects either shriveled up like dried husks from the uncontrollable rapid gathering of their life force, or _exploded_ from the strain put on their chakra pools.

"Since our latest failure," Kabuto intoned, his brow furrowing, "Orochimaru-sama was not… _satisfied_ with my developments and proposed something different—something _revolutionary_."

He paused as if waiting for her to inquire what this grand _something_ could be, but Sakura would do no such thing. Cat-like emerald eyes narrowed dangerously at the maniacal baring of teeth that only Kabuto could call an excited grin, and her nostrils flared at the visible giddiness rolling off him in waves.

Mad scientist, indeed. How fucking _sick._

Brushing off her lack of response with ease, Kabuto resumed his tale steadfastly, "Orochimaru-sama is quite the genius, I must tell you Sakura-chan. It was quite the surprise to know that Zetsu was the one pulling the strings in Akatsuki, wasn't it?"

Upon Sakura's sharp intake of breath, Kabuto chuckled and continued, "Yes, you were there while everyone else dreamed. I, unfortunately, was also asleep. Fortunately for Orochimaru-sama, _he_ was not. After learning of White Zetsu's rather admirable longevity, I was tasked with scrounging the lands for remnants of his cells."

He leaned forward, bent elbows resting on his knees as he rolled the syringe in the palm of his hand. "With Zetsu's DNA and fragments of Hashirama's cells, Orochimaru-sama and I were able to develop a serum that would alter the recipient's own DNA to increase their strength and durability _tenfold."_

Bright fluorescent lighting glinted off the plastic as he held up the syringe.

"By mutating the recipient's cells to mimic Zetsu's own curious mutation of plant and animal cells, we have crossed the hurdle of self-sustainment and mortality. You _have_ heard of trees living for hundreds of years, no?"

Sakura swallowed at the influx of information, the voice in the back of her head reminding her, ominously, that Konoha's dendrologists had placed the oldest tree in their village at nearly a millennium. Her mind raced at the possibility of Orochimaru living and committing unspeakable acts like these for _forever._

Despite the looming of her impending demise and agony, Sakura was a scientist at heart and she couldn't help but ask, "And chakra? Have you even accounted for the natural resistance of a person's chakra?"

Kabuto leered at her supine form, licking his lips as his glasses glinted. "Of _course_ , Sakura-chan. You and I, as scientists and medics, both know that we must consider all possible angles. With the aid of the serum, the recipient's chakra would flood and nourish each cell so that they are enhanced and sustained by a constant stream that would encourage cellular mitosis, therefore eliminating the potential for chakra exhaustion. We produce thousands of cells each day—it'd be a never-ending source of power and chakra!"

"That isn't a serum," Sakura hissed, her voice rising. "That is a _virus!"_

Kabuto lurched to his feet, circling around to the crown of her head, and she jerked when she felt his gnarled fingers comb through her dirty rose tresses as he shushed her, "It may seem so. But that is where you come in, my dear."

Kabuto bent at the waist, his lips coming to rest by the shell of her ear, "Your Byakugou opens a world possibilities. You have such fine, subconscious control of your chakra that you'd be capable of halting all cancerous cellular division. So, I don't doubt that you, with such great chakra control would be able to counteract whatever _issues_ you may encounter."

Kabuto toyed with the strands of her hair as he hummed, "Tsunade-sama had been my first choice, but Orochimaru-sama is quite… _fond_ of her and did not approve. _You_ , however, he holds no such feelings for."

Rising to his full height, the grey-haired man calmly returned to his previous position by her discolored arm and trailed a finger down its length. It had lost circulation long ago and she felt his touch like shattered glass against her skin. Her pulse throbbed in her throat and she swallowed against the fear threatening to suffocate her as Kabuto moved the needle to her vein. She sneered at the crown of his head, thoughts and information churning over in her head until a mirthless laugh spilled from her chapped lips.

"You know that I loathe you and your master," she spat even as Kabuto calmly lifted his head to stare at her, "And yet you give me something you hope will mutate me into something super-human with expectations that I'd survive. Surely, you know that I'll kill you the first chance I get."

Kabuto's answering laugh was like ice down her back.

"I said I did not doubt that you'd survive," he corrected. "But I never said I had intentions of letting you _live_."

He leaned towards her as if imparting a secret. "See, your ability to survive this is only a hypothesis, as the survival rate in previous experiments is at a resounding zero percent. If you don't survive, my hypothesis was wrong; but if you _do,_ then I was correct and you've served your purpose. You are only a means to an end, Sakura-chan."

Opening her mouth to let him know just what she thought of his depraved hypothesis, Sakura yelped and then cursed herself for his distraction when she felt a sting against the bend of her elbow. She jerked against the restraints, her chakra lashing out wildly against the foreign chemicals coursing through and invading her cells.

"Orochimaru-sama thanks you for your participation, Sakura-chan."

Kabuto discarded the empty syringe on top of a steel tray with other medical equipment, then moved to grab a file and pen to begin writing down his observations. As Sakura observed this through hazy, agonized beryl eyes, she decided that she'd receive retribution in this life or the next.

Her thoughts of vengeance were halted by what felt like molten lava coursing through her body, liquefying her from the inside out, and she screamed until she started seizing, and then she knew no more.

* * *

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Kabuto observed as one of the strongest kunoichi in the world writhed uncontrollably on the steel slab, her mouth foaming as her body seized in reaction to the serum streaming through her. A scream ripped through her throat, and he adjusted his glasses as her chakra flared against the restraints.

Subduing her by use of chakra suppressants was not wise, considering the nature of his experiment, but it served a purpose in observing whether her chakra would break through to interact with the serum's components or remain fettered by the challenge.

Catching Sakura tiredly making her way back to Konoha after a long, grueling solo-mission had been a stroke of sheer luck. Kabuto was not arrogant enough to believe that he could challenge her—one of the Neo-Sannin, hero of the Great War, Striker of Gods—at full strength and win. He saw an opportunity in her fatigued gait and he took it.

Orochimaru had been most pleased when Kabuto had returned from his supply mission with the battered pink haired woman slung over his shoulders. As Kabuto had told her, Orochimaru held no affection for her after her rather public opposition to his reinstatement; but he respected her, he said, for recognizing a predator and keeping it in her sights.

However, as Kabuto observed the thrashing body on top of the rattling table, he determined that his master would be supremely disappointed in hearing about the failure of his hypothesis.

As he watched, Sakura's once healthy skin adopted the ashen pallor of a corpse, the bare flesh of her arms and legs mottling, black veins spreading across her once flawless complexion like lightning as her cells died and struggled to reproduce.

Kabuto sighed as he annotated the familiar sight in his hefty file. Standing, he tucked the file under his arm as he made his way towards the woman that used to be Haruno Sakura. He gripped her head by the hair to keep her from moving, and he lifted an eyelid to confirm what he already knew.

The sclera of her eyes, like every other recipient, had bled into a bright crimson as the cells and blood vessels combusted and died. Pupils dilated to pinpricks, her once brilliantly green iris had faded to an eerily pale shade of what it once was, small crimson fibers spaced in between the green as cells reacted violently.

Stepping away, he annotated in his files his disappointing results, and didn't bother to glance back when he heard the tale tell expulsion of her last breath. As per Orochimaru's protocol, Kabuto was forced to wait by her cooling corpse for an hour to see if there were any changes in her not previously seen in the others.

When the hour went by and all Kabuto observed was the onset of algor mortis, he deemed the project a loss and called for the base's disposal team to get rid of her corpse. Within ten minutes, the man in charge for the day was throwing her body over his shoulder and making his way out the door while Kabuto made his last notes in his file labeled: Case #34/ T3-S.

On a whim, to appease the niggling feeling in the back of his head, Kabuto halted the lowly servant before he fully left. Stepping next to him, he placed two fingers on where Sakura's pulse point should be and held it for a minute. When he felt nothing, he directed a stream of medical chakra into her body and found her void of all life. Nodding to the larger man, Kabuto went back to his file and closed it.

Haruno Sakura had died for science.

Kabuto grinned; how fitting.

* * *

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Five days later, thirty miles away from Kabuto and two hundred miles away from Konoha, Sakura awoke in a ditch of rotting corpses.

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 _tbc_


	2. Without The Lights

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 ** _A/N:_** _Sorry for the delay! I've been moving out of state and I've been a little busy._

 _Please refer to ending Author's Notes for information on pairings!_

 **Song Inspo: Without the Lights by Elliot Moss**

 **.**

 **.**

 **ONE**

* * *

"Oh, call off the dogs

We found her in the woods.

That girl never stood a chance

After that dark dance with the waves."

* * *

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Sakura doesn't remember much after waking.

All she remembered was the all-consuming hunger and rage. She couldn't remember why she was so _angry_ ; all her brain could recognize was that she was _starving_. There was no sense of self beyond the desperate hunger that propelled her from the ditch of foul smelling corpses and beyond.

It was like she wasn't herself, but some beast whose sole purpose in life was to fill its belly with the weight of flesh.

She wouldn't know what _type_ until she came to her senses two days later, hunched over the bloody corpse of an unlucky bandit with his brain matter crumbling between her fingers.

She had been horrified, swiping futilely at the blood staining her face and body as she scrambled away from the mauled corpse of what once could have been a man. She'd run from him and then lunged into the nearest river to wash away the last of her humanity.

Then she had curled in on herself and cried.

What made it worse was that she was _still_ so very hungry. Her instincts cried out for her to return to the body of the poor man and devour him completely, but the larger part of her—the _human_ part of her—sobbed that it was _wrong._

She had been eating a _person_ —a human being like her! She had torn him apart with her bare hands and teeth to _eat him._

But at that point, Sakura realized with dawning terror as her body lurched towards the abandoned corpse, her senses fading to the animalistic and zeroing in on that awful hunger, that she was now anything but human.

* * *

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.

Sakura doesn't like to think about what came after that—about ripping the corpse apart limb from limb and feasting on him until she felt like she could function for days without any type of sustenance.

She doesn't like to think about how, after coming back to herself, she formed the seals to make a katon and burn the evidence only to find nothing but bits of bone against blood soaked earth.

She'd burned them anyway.

Horribly ashamed and terrified of herself, Sakura had spent three days wandering about in the dense forests of Lightning Country. She didn't know who, or rather what, she was anymore.

Kabuto had done something to her, and she had no idea how—exactly—she'd survived. She _did_ know that she had to return to Konoha; without a calendar, she had no idea of how long ago she had been supposed to check back in. But she couldn't bear to face them as she was—as a _monster._

After…gorging herself on food, Sakura didn't feel the need to eat, sleep, or drink. She didn't really feel much of anything, and when she popped a wild blueberry into her mouth in an attempt to sate her hunger, she found that she couldn't _taste_ anything either. So she had plopped herself at the base of a tree and ruminated on her predicament.

Back then, she had known two things about herself: Kabuto had injected her with a virus, and she felt a hunger for human flesh.

Aside from that, she knew nothing else. Fortunately, Sakura had always been very smart _and_ with her eidetic memory, she could remember her notes on the White Zetsu autopsy from when she had been sixteen.

She had also been able to recall Kabuto's vague lecture on what the virus was made of and its purpose. If it was composed of true White Zetsu cells, as he had claimed, then it would explain the overwhelming desire to eat people.

She had once heard, during the War, that Zetsu ate his opponents and it was why many were afraid to face him in combat. She had always assumed that his purpose for eating humans was to get rid of evidence or as a scare tactic, _not_ because he needed them to _survive._

Or, in her case, to keep from becoming a rampaging monster.

Hashirama's cells, combined with the regenerative ability of her Byakugou, was probably the only reason why she had survived. But Sakura could not figure out why Kabuto had dumped her in a mass grave and left her to rot.

Hadn't he said that he'd kill her?

Unless, of course, he thought she had died from his experiment.

The high probability of Kabuto's belief in her death had stunned her; he was a medic-nin, so he must have verified her lack of pulse and declared a time of death for her.

After coming to the realization that she had most likely _died_ and come back to life with a hunger for human brains, Sakura had hyperventilated until she started weeping. And then her weeping had dissolved into laughter because she was a _zombie._

A zombie like in one of Ino-pig's and Naruto's cheesy movies. Like the kind she had been terrified of as a little girl, like the ones children dressed up as on Halloween and for other ridiculous reasons.

Zombies weren't supposed to _exist._ Which was saying something in and of itself, considering there were many undead shinobi running amok during the last war. But Sakura thought she would remember if the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage had a desire to feast on human flesh.

After seeing dead shinobi fighting at her side, and then punching a goddess in the face, then fighting on the surface of the moon to save Hinata, Sakura had thought she'd seen it all.

Until she woke up eating a person.

She was _undead;_ and at the realization Sakura had wasted no time in grabbing a kunai she'd lifted off her first meal and stabbed herself in the stomach with it because it _couldn't_ have been true-and if it were, a life of cannibalism was not worth a second chance at life. As she gasped at the pain, she felt an influx of adrenaline as a snarl ripped through her throat. Her extremities cooled rapidly—almost feeling like oncoming frostbite, but strangely painless—and her vision sharpened considerably.

When she wrenched the blade, she also felt primal as an overwhelming need to survive flooded through her. Every shinobi had a survival instinct; it was what gave you strength to fight your way out of a difficult battle or run away from one. But what she felt that day, and many days after, was beyond that. She felt meaner, angrier, _stronger_.

When she removed the blade, she noticed that while painful, the wound faded quickly as if it were never there and, curiously enough, she hadn't bled. It was likely due to the Byakugou's regenerative abilities and her medical chakra, but it reinforced the fact that she was a dead woman walking.

Sakura wouldn't find out until a few months later that Kabuto's virus had worked. Her chakra had merged into her cells to give her an endless supply of power while her fine control greatly slowed the process down.

Essentially, Sakura was a super not-human who didn't age and couldn't die—which sounded great on paper, but not so much in practice as there was a catch that Kabuto hadn't accounted for.

If Sakura used too much of this new cellular chakra, she was at risk of losing herself—losing the parts that made her _Sakura_ and not _flesh eating zombie._

There was a limit, one that she was currently hesitant to find but always close to reaching.

At the disturbing discovery of her new existence, Sakura had curled up at the bottom of a tree until Konoha's tracker team—consisting of Team 8 and Kakashi—had found her two days later.

They'd been horrified at the state she was in—not that she'd noticed, in the face of an existential crisis—and, upon returning to Konoha, had to sneak her in through a secret ANBU entrance to avoid alarming the villagers.

She'd been gone for five weeks instead of the allotted three.

It was as they passed a shop window that Sakura managed to catch a glimpse of her reflection, and she had to hastily avert her eyes at the horror.

She had looked positively dead.

Her clothes—the prisoner garb Kabuto had dressed her in—were doused liberally with blood and her skin was beyond ashen. If she dyed her hair black and wore dark contacts, she was sure she'd pass as Sai's sister. Her seal stood out starkly against the pale skin of her forehead, and her hair hung matted and limp in front of her face.

Naruto, the newly instated Hokage, had looked so happy to see her and yet so concerned for her well being that she _couldn't_ tell him the truth of what had happened. So when he asked for a debrief, she had _lied_.

She'd told him she'd been taken prisoner by Orochimaru and tortured for the whereabouts of the files holding the Cursed Seal's research, not once mentioning Kabuto's virus and its effects on her person. It broke her heart to be enveloped into his arms—he unmindful of her stench of dried blood and corpses—and told that he had missed her.

When he'd suggested she visit the hospital, Sakura had vehemently protested. To everyone's shock, she had proclaimed that she was fine and well—that all she needed was a bath and a good night's rest. Inside, she knew what the medics would find when they checked her vitals: no pulse, no blood pressure, no chakra activity within her pathways.

It was nothing she hadn't checked herself.

Naruto had let her off uneasily after that, trusting her judgement and she was escorted home by Kakashi—who hung around her apartment much to her annoyance and yet comfort.

The next day, Naruto had called her to a meeting where he described that, in the wake of Orochimaru's renewed interest in the Cursed Seal, his and Kabuto's capture and elimination was of utmost importance. As he informed the Council of Elders of his course of action, Sakura had devised her own plans.

She would find Kabuto, steal his research on that infernal virus, and engineer a cure.

Sakura would not stay this way forever, she would make sure of it. If there was a cure, she'd find it. Despite having her life derailed, Sakura now had purpose and she _finally_ felt something.

After that, Sakura had to find ways to feed herself. She ate normal food in front of her peers and friends, but she always had to find ways to actually _sustain_ her hunger. To her horror, she found that if she did not eat every few days or so, her _hair_ would start to fade until it was bone white—not to mention the awful and mean mood swings. Luckily for her, Sakura had friends and resources in high places.

Naruto provided her with copious amounts of solo missions, either medical or combative, and in a span of seven months, Sakura had managed to become the kunoichi with the most solo missions under her belt. They weren't dangerous, or particularly challenging, but they served their purpose in giving her what she needed.

Her blonde doof of a friend had slyly joked that she was either running from or _to_ someone. As Sakura rolled her eyes at the suggestive waggling of his eyebrows, she hated that she didn't have the heart to tell him that she had stopped replying to Sasuke's letters (who then stopped sending them altogether), much less that these missions were her source of _food._

On average, she killed about two bandits per mission, and their brains (or thighs, or arms, or whatever hadn't been destroyed by her jutsu) lasted her a few weeks. She didn't need to ingest much, just a few bites here and there always held her over until she needed to go out and " _restock"_ her supply _._

When her Hokage didn't have a mission for her, she found sustenance in the morgue—in the section reserved for prisoners and interrogees. As one of the highest ranking combative medics, and Tsunade's successor, Sakura had access to every facility in the hospital. She knew for a fact that organs, in the wake of innovative medical ninjutsu, were almost always discarded. No one would miss a brain-or two-and she took great care to take _only_ what was _desperately_ needed.

It worked for her, it worked _very_ well, and she was always careful.

Therefore, when the Chief Medical Examiner of Konohagakure's only morgue requested to speak to her and the Hokage about a peculiar—and alarming—case of missing or half picked organs, she was thankful—for the first time ever—for her newly pale skin.

"It's the most _peculiar_ thing, Hokage-sama!"

Konoha's CME was a short, amiable man with a penchant for wearing a monocle and Sakura liked him well enough because of his dedication to his job; but right now, she _hated_ him.

Not as much as she hated herself, though.

She had been naïve to think that something like that wouldn't be noticed by someone so dedicated to his craft of cataloguing dead people's unneeded body parts; and now that he had notified the Hokage, it had to be addressed.

"I don't see why someone would go through the trouble of stealing one-third of a _brain,"_ the CME—named Hoyo—exclaimed. "I have been keeping a detailed record of patients whose brain matter, or other organs, have been poached in the last four months."

Sakura struggled to keep her expression from blanching and showing any alarm. _Four months!?_ She'd been sneaking into the morgue in the cover of darkness _at least_ once a month, thinking she was covering all her bases and being _careful_ , and here was this little man proving her wrong.

As Hoyo handed the records to the Hokage, who flipped through them grimly, the rosette fought the overwhelming urge to bash her head against the wall until it fell off her shoulders. She'd gotten complacent, believing that because she was who she was she'd be able to get away unscathed.

They might not know it was her, but they'd find out soon enough if she didn't _fix this._

What was that phrase Genma liked to say? Ah, yes: _You don't shit where you eat._

"—Sakura-chan? Sakura!"

Coming back to herself at Naruto's call, Sakura shook her head in mock confusion.

"I'm sorry, this is just so _bizarre_ ," she said quietly, picking the records up from Naruto's desk. "I've never seen anything like this."

Except she has, because _she_ was the one who ate Matsumoto Hachiro's liver for dinner last night!

Naruto nodded along thoughtfully, brow furrowing in concern. "They're all missing-nin or prisoners. That's gotta mean something."

"It doesn't."

Naruto and Hoyo glanced at her sharply, surprised at her quick opposition. Sakura swallowed and masked her blunder with a lazy shrug of her shoulders.

"In my experience," she explained, placing the records back on Naruto's desk and moving to stand beside him, "Hunter-nin and Medic-nin take the _whole_ brain for information gathering."

"They do?" Naruto leaned back in his seat, his hand coming up to scratch at his chin. "I didn't know that."

Of course he wouldn't. Naruto didn't handle the more shady and ghoulish business conducted by his shinobi—that fell into ROOT's jurisdiction. Sakura only knew because she was usually the one handling the brains—well, the ones she didn't eat.

Sakura nodded. "Yes. The brain, as Hoyo-san here can attest to, is a very complex organ. It takes a skilled Hunter-nin or Medic-nin to pull information from it without turning it into mush."

Naruto's nose scrunched up at the imagery, but picked up on her lead quickly. "So they wouldn't take portions of the brain, they'd take all of it."

Sakura nodded again. "Yes. They wouldn't leave anything behind."

Naruto hummed contemplatively as he flipped idly through Hoyo's detailed record keeping.

"And the other organs? Is there a purpose for those that threaten village security?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Alright then," Naruto huffed as he closed the records with a resounding slap. "Then there's nothing to worry about!"

"But Hokage-sama," Hoyo protested, giving Sakura the urge to eat _his_ brain. "There have been _eight_ instances of this - this _organ harvesting_! Surely, you must be planning on doing something about it!"

Naruto shook his head sympathetically. "Were it a matter of village security and the safety of my people, I would be forced to look into it. But seeing as it's _partial harvesting_ , and not for the sake of information extraction, I'm hard pressed to do anything about it."

Hoyo spluttered incredulously, his monocle shaking from the force of it. "There could be a potential cannibal breaking into the morgue and walking the streets, and you're not going to do anything about it?!"

Sakura held her breath as Naruto adopted his 'thinking face,' afraid of the possibility of an investigation. Because of this whole debacle, she wasn't so sure she'd been as meticulously careful as she thought.

"I'm sorry, Hoyo-san," Naruto sighed. "Konoha's Shinobi Corps is a very clandestine, macabre, and dissolute business. I'm sure you know that."

When Hoyo opened his mouth to interrupt, Naruto held up a hand and added, "What my shinobi do on their own time is none of my business. It becomes my business _only_ when their actions put the safety of my village in danger—and this doesn't constitute as such."

"A _cannibal,_ Hokage-sama!" Hoyo reiterated as his face reddened considerably at Naruto's dismissal. "You would let a murderous cannibal run loose?!"

Sakura's face was stone as talk of cannibals and murder filtered through her brain. She had never considered herself a cannibal, even though that was what she was. She wasn't human anymore, so what was she…? It was such uncharted thinking territory and Sakura was sure that it'd be depressive, so she'd rather not.

"I am inclined to remind you that you are standing in a room with four _murderers_ and reside in a village of hundreds." Naruto intoned icily as Hoyo paled.

"As I said, Hoyo-san, if whoever is doing this feels the need to steal bits and pieces of organs from the morgue, I doubt it's because they're eating them. Whatever the case, it's none of my business. I advise that you reconsider what is yours.

Tanuki-san, please escort Hoyo-san out the building."

Recognizing an order when he heard one, the ANBU posted at the door saluted the blond before glowering at the Chief Medical Examiner until the smaller man all but scampered out the door, leaving silence in his wake.

"Is it an inappropriate time to say, 'mic drop,' Hokage-sama?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at Genma's immaturity as Naruto guffawed. Of course Naruto would assign Kakashi's friend to his personal ANBU detail—those two probably spent the day joking around and talking about women.

Naruto shook his head, traces of his grin fading from his face as he reopened Hoyo's records.

"Something about this isn't right," he said quietly, not noticing the way Sakura stiffened. "What do you think, Sakura-chan?"

 _Crap_.

She couldn't dismiss it now that they were alone! Naruto, after assuming the title of Hokage, always had some weird tactic flip-flopping in his head and she was sure that he deflected Hoyo's concern for a reason.

Sakura didn't have much of a choice, and decided to cut her losses. She'd have to think of an alternative to the morgue, and quick—her hair was already a washed-out shade of its former self.

"I think that," she replied slowly, as if churning the thought over in her head, "if it worries you, you should post surveillance at the entrance to the morgue. No one goes in or out without supervision. If it really is a big deal, like Hoyo-san thinks, then we should investigate. If not, organs from the morgue are destroyed anyway."

Naruto's brow furrowed as he looked up at her. "You're not worried about a cannibal? Those guys are scary."

Swallowing the painful lump in her throat and ignoring the brief hurt that pulsed in her chest, Sakura shook her head.

"We've really seen everything when it comes to the depraved; and most of our shinobi have been through a lot. The way I see it, if this person is going through the trouble of doing all this, then they must really need it. And even then, I doubt it's something as crazy as cannibalism."

Genma piped in from his vantage point by the window, "I agree with Sakura. I doubt someone's eating those organs. They're probably using them for science or something."

"But if they're using them for science," Naruto rubbed at his chin. "Then they would be using our labs, right?"

"Not necessarily…" Genma winced slightly. "Orochimaru had been conducting illegal experiments, way back when, in hidden labs without anyone knowing. Could we perhaps be facing another Orochimaru on our hands?"

Naruto groaned, scrubbing his hands down his cheeks. "This is giving me such a headache. This is _not_ what I signed up for when I swore in."

"Actually, yes, it is," Sakura corrected with a small smile. She gently took her beloved teammate's hand in her own. "Don't worry too much about it, Naruto. I'm sure that with the added surveillance the culprit won't return."

And she most definitely would _not_ go back to the morgue in search of food. Now that it's been placed on the radar, her chances of success were slim to none.

Naruto smiled at her and patted her own hand in return, only to yowl dramatically, "Sakura-chan! Your hands are so cold! Do you live in a freezer?!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at her friend's theatrics. "Naruto, we go through this every time I touch you."

"You _need_ to get some sun!" Naruto exclaimed with a flourish as he stood, grasping her shoulders in his broad palms. "Look at you! You're paler than Sai-teme!"

She sniffed, a sly grin playing on her lips. "If that's the case, then you should send me out to Suna for some nice tanning and relaxation."

Laughing at her not so subtle request, Naruto scrounged around in his desk for a mission scroll to Suna. Sakura tried not to think about how Suna was the best place to ' _hunt'_ because of stray bandits' habits of getting lost and dying in the desert. Often, she'd found fresh corpses that helped her a substantial amount.

Placing a B-Rank courier mission scroll to Suna in her hand, Naruto's lips twisted uncomfortably and a pit formed in her belly. She knew that look—those were Naruto's ' _I'm about to ask you something very uncomfortable'_ eyebrows.

"Sakura-chan," he started and Sakura braced herself. "Why do you request so many missions. Why don't you talk to Sasuke?"

Sakura tried not to wince at the mention of her love interest's name, but the twitch of her eyebrow belied her discomfort. "You can always deny my mission requests, and I just don't have anything to say to him anymore, Naruto. I've told you this."

"Well, yes, I know." Naruto scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "But I thought you were taking all these missions to see him, and when I found out that Karin was pregnant…with his baby…I…"

And there it was, that familiar feeling of distress that curled around her chest and squeezed, forcing Sakura to remind herself that she was already dead and couldn't die from it—or anything else, really.

What a hollow comfort.

"I just don't know what to think," Naruto continued quietly. "Are you not happy here? Are you seeing someone outside village walls? After that one mission eight months ago, you haven't been the same and I'm worried about you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura tried not to flinch. How could anyone who knew her story ever think that she was happy living the life she lived now? She was forced to watch all her friends move on and start families while she had to let go of the only man she had ever loved. Every day she watched as her friends became happier and happier while she fell into the same loop of hunting for brains and a cure.

The day she found out Sasuke had moved on had been the worst day of her life—barring the one where she had died, of course. She'd been hoping that once she found a cure she'd be able to rekindle whatever relationship she'd once had with him. They hadn't had much, just a few letters here and there in the time since he'd been away, but it had been worthwhile and meant the world to her.

But four months after accepting her new life and purpose, Sakura learned that what she and Sasuke had must have been very miniscule in comparison to what he had with the girl from Taka. Naruto had announced his own _and_ Sasuke's impending children in the same night, and while everyone celebrated, she had gone home and drank until she could feel anything else but heartache—which hadn't happened.

To everyone else, _Sakura_ had been the one to stop pursuing Sasuke. _She_ had been the one to let go and move on. What everyone else didn't know was that she couldn't bear to lure him into a relationship and subsequent marriage with a girl who could _never_ give him what he wanted—what he _needed_.

Karin could, and Sakura would live with her decision for the rest of her undead life.

But her friends _didn't_ know her story, at least not all of it, and she'd rather slit her own throat than tell them.

"I just don't feel like I've experience much beyond these walls, Naruto." Sakura brushed a hand through her meticulously maintained hair. "I'm twenty-three and I don't feel like I've done much."

Naruto's eyes widened incredulously. "You don't feel like you've done much?! Sakura-chan! We've been through a whole war! You punched a crazy goddess _in the face!_ We fought _aliens!"_

Chuckling humorlessly, Sakura placed a hand on her hip with a shake of her head. "No offense, Naruto, but you and everyone else settled down pretty quickly. I still feel like I have things I need to do."

"Like what?!"

She waved a hand in the air dismissively. "You know: cure a plague, invent a jutsu, adopt a chinchilla…Things like that."

Things like finding a cure for her zombie-dom, that was an important one. Oh, and ripping out Kabuto's entrails and dancing on them—that too.

Naruto shuffled his feet in that telltale way again, and Sakura sighed discreetly.

"Speaking of things to do," Naruto started slowly. "In our last letter, Sasuke expressed his wishes to have you deliver his daughter when it's time. He says you're the only one he trusts to do it. Do you think you can do that?"

Sakura's mind came to a freezing halt, her synapses frying at Sasuke's message. On the one hand, she was overjoyed that he trusted her implicitly and _finally_ recognized her skills. On the other, she was appalled at the notion of seeing the personification of the turn her life had taken and her life choices.

Was it petty to stick that connotation to an unborn child? Yes, yes it was. But if things had gone _her_ way, then that little girl would have been _theirs_ and she didn't think she'd be over that for a while.

"Well," she huffed, suppressing all of her sadness and anger. "I haven't seen Sasuke in almost seven years. If he wants to ask me to deliver his child, then he has to do it himself."

With that, Sakura briskly turned and walked out the door, uncaring of Naruto's resounding groan.

She had some brains to flambé.

.

.

* * *

 **Ending Notes:** _I'm not a huge fan of SasuSaku or SasuKarin, but pairings, to me, are used for the sake of plot. Sakura will not end up with Sasuke, so no sordid love affair here, lol. The other Canon pairings and children will exist for lack of originality. I'm not sure if I want Sakura to have a romantic relationship, though...we'll see!_

 _Let me know if you guys like this chapter!_

 _XO_


	3. WALLS

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

 _ **A/N:** Wow, thanks for all of the love! Please see ending notes for comments!_

 **Song Inspo: WALLS by Kings of Leon**

 _._

 _._

 **TWO**

* * *

 _"I can get there on my own._

 _You can leave me here alone._

 _I'm just trying to do what's right."_

* * *

 _._

 _._

Ino had been waiting outside of Sakura's door for the last twenty minutes and she was _tired._ Her feet were swollen, Inojin was kicking, and she just wanted to sit next to her best friend and complain about what this pregnancy was doing to her perfect figure. Was that too much for a girl to ask?

Shifting her weight, Ino tapped her manicured fingertips against her purple covered belly. Sakura had said she'd be home a quarter after four and it was already five. That woman had been completely wonky lately—kind of like a shell of her former self—and Ino would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit concerned.

After that disastrous mission where Sakura had been tortured by the Snake-sannin, she hadn't been the same. Besides the unhealthy pallor of her skin, she barely ate, she was never in the village, she wore burgundy _eyeshadow_ of all things, and Ino could have _sworn_ she'd once seen the other woman scurrying out the village with snow white hair.

Whatever phase Sakura was going through, Ino wasn't sure she liked it and she was fully prepared to use her rampant pregnancy hormones as an excuse for an intervention.

 _Speak of the Devil…_

Ino's glossed lips curled happily as she saw the distinctive pink of her friend's hair slowly make her way towards her.

"Forehead!" She called, waving jubilantly.

Sakura glanced up from where her eyes seemed glued to her booted feet and Ino could see the bright grin even from where she was standing. To her, it looked a bit forced—but everything Sakura did seemed a bit forced, nowadays.

"Ino-pig!" Sakura pulled her into a warm hug and Ino returned it, even if she shivered a bit.

Sakura's skin always felt so cold!

It was like the woman had poor circulation or something—which spoke a lot of how well she was taking care of herself as a medic-nin.

Pulling away from her dearest friend, Ino pouted. "You know, Forehead, weaker women than I would have burst into tears at such a greeting."

Sakura rolled her eyes, the corners of her lips twitching. "Well, it's a good thing you're so much _stronger_ and _prettier_ than them, right?"

Ino burst into laughter, tossing her long ponytail over her shoulder with a flourish. "You know it!"

Stepping aside, the taller blonde waited for the rosette to fish her keys out of her pocket and open the door. She took this time to sweep her sharp gaze over her friend's person, and she did not like what she saw.

She might have been off the active duty roster, but Ino was still a kunoichi through and through. Her observational skills were still incredibly sharp; she would have had to have been blind to not notice the alarmingly pale hue her friend's once flushed skin had taken.

Yes, her husband's skin was just as pale, but Sai at least had some _life_ to him. Sakura's skin, and Ino would never say it out loud, looked like it belonged on a corpse—and it was _not_ a good look for her pretty friend.

The door to Sakura's apartment swung open with a creak (one that Sakura narrowed her eyes to) and Ino toed off her sandals, kicking them haphazardly to where she knew Sakura had placed her own. She could barely see her toes, excuse her if she didn't feel the need to bend down and organize her ratty—but _so comfortable_ —sandals!

"Do you want anything to drink?" Sakura asked as she padded over to the refrigerator while Ino took a seat at the kitchen island.

"I'd like a mimosa, please."

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly when the rosette turned to level her with an unamused stare, Ino pouted, "Boo, you suck. Juice is fine."

By the time Sakura returned with two glasses of juice, Ino was already half a column deep in tabloid gossip from a trashy magazine left on the counter.

"Oh my gosh," The blonde snorted as she blindly reached for one of the glasses set in front of her. "The Daimyo's son is having a baby!"

Sakura blinked. "Another one? What number is he at now, eight?"

"Ten." Ino corrected as she took a dainty sip from the cute bendy straw her best friend knew she loved, only to instantly regret it as its unholy sweetness assaulted her poor taste buds.

Hastily spitting it back into the chilled cup, Ino gagged, "Oh my god, what is that? _Battery acid?!"_

As she dabbed at her tongue with a napkin, the blonde watched from her peripherals as the other woman swapped their drinks. "And _that_ would be mine, Pig."

"See," Sakura pointed at the pink bendy straw. "Mine is always pink, yours is purple. It's not my fault you weren't paying attention, with that pregnancy brain of yours."

"That doesn't explain why you're trying to give yourself _diabetes!"_

Ino knew for a fact that Sakura only indulged on such copious amounts of sugar on a bad day, and even then it wasn't in _one_ serving! It just solidified the fact that something wasn't right with her friend because Sakura was a health nut to the point of irritation; and lately, Ino had noticed that all Sakura ever had were bad days.

Besides that, when she _did_ eat, it was never a meal that wasn't overly sweet or spicy.

"Stop being so dramatic, it's not that bad," Sakura made a face as she grabbed the magazine from where Ino had dropped it. "Ew, that guy is disturbingly virile."

Knowing a change of topic when she saw one, Ino narrowed her eyes at her friend's face as she took a sip from her much _tamer_ drink. Normally, she would have something to say about such disregard for a loved one's health, but she recognized the lines of stress in her friend's oh-so-big forehead and decided to drop it. She'd harass her another day.

But still, what type of best friend would she be if she didn't poke fun at her expense?

Ino's lips curled slyly. "You do know that you're drinking my backwash, right?"

Sakura choked, her hand coming to her lips as she coughed, " _Gross,_ Ino!"

Laughing as Sakura moved to dump the rest of her drink into the sink, Ino placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, c'mon! It's not so bad! I'm chock full of mommy antibodies right now and you should take advantage of that!"

When Sakura glared at her from over her shoulder, Ino added, "It was a gift! Because I love you!"

"Ugh, I hate you, Pig. So much."

"Love you too, Forehead."

Laughing, Ino picked up the glass of juice meant for actual _normal_ people and made her way to Sakura's old, hand me down loveseat. It was a washed out orange with blue and green flowers held together by silver stitching, and it was easily the ugliest thing she had ever seen, but it was also the most _comfortable_ piece of furniture Ino had ever rested her ass on.

When she had first seen it, Ino had begged Sakura to get rid of it. Such a hideous thing was sure to scare off any potential boyfriends—or friends, for that matter. But, apparently, Naruto had given it to her and the blonde had loved it _so much_ that Sakura couldn't bear to be rid of it. He called it The Team 7 Couch, and made it a point to sit there at least once whenever he visited.

If it weren't so damned comfortable, Ino would have made him keep it in _his_ apartment if he loved it so much. But even Hinata grimaced at the sight of it!

Huffing, Ino spread herself languorously across the monstrosity, sighing as the cushions molded to the contours of her body, and peered through lowered lashes at the state of her friend's home.

It was another thing that concerned her. Sakura, on top of being anal retentive, was a major clean freak—something about being on Team 7 made her seek order in her own life—and her apartment was looking like a bunch of squatters had taken residence.

There were clothes strewn about the back of chairs and in the corner. Books were laid open and discarded all throughout the apartment and mission gear was nearly everywhere she looked.

"Hey, Sakura," Ino called as she leaned over to pick up a book on botany and set it on her belly, "Are you sure you and Naruto haven't switch apartments? 'Cause it's looking like it!"

"Shut up, Pig!" Sakura snapped, not unkindly, from where she had moved to rummage in her closet. "You know I've been super busy. I don't have time to be a clean freak anymore!"

Ino scoffed, rolling her eyes as she drummed her fingernails thoughtfully on the textbook's hardcover. She felt Inojin move in her womb and she winced when he evicted a rib. Damn kid was going to rearrange her entire skeleton if he didn't settle down!

She glanced up when Forehead came around the corner with a pack slung over her shoulders and arms full of scrolls. Ino frowned; she was going on a mission again? So soon? While it wasn't unusual for shinobi to be sent out on back to back missions when the village was low on available personnel, the blond knew it wasn't the case during this era of peace. In fact, all they _had_ were available shinobi. She had even once caught dog breath Kiba trying to bribe the Hokage-baka with all he could eat ramen for a C-Rank mission.

A _C-Rank!_

Konoha's ninja were _that_ bored. Therefore, Ino couldn't understand why Sakura refused to give herself a _break_ and let one of the many idiots running around the village take over for a change. It's not like they were _busy._

Giving voice to thought, Ino watched from between her lashes as Sakura dropped her pack onto the floor with a sigh. With the type of efficiency she was known for, Forehead started grabbing things from different parts of the room to toss them into her pack. Waiting silently, she catalogued each item: a spare weapons pouch with extra kunai, scrolls, clothing, a travelling cloak, canteens, a med-kit, and some rations.

So she wasn't planning on being gone for too long, then.

When it seemed like an answer from Forehead wasn't forthcoming, Ino's lips tightened into a thin line. Sitting up, grimacing at the way Inojin protested the movement by punching her in the spleen, she huffed.

"Sakura-chan," she began, her friend's hands stilling over her pack at the childhood moniker, "I'm worried about you."

Swallowing, Sakura resumed rearranging items within her bag and Ino took it as an invitation to continue. If Forehead thought she could beat her in the game of pigheadedness, she had another thing coming!

"You really haven't been the same since, well—you know," Ino said, voice uncharacteristically subdued, "And it's not like you want to tell anyone what _really_ happened to you—"

"Ino…" Sakura sighed. "The Hokage knows what happened."

"Yeah, well, he's not _me,_ " Ino snapped. "And _I_ know you better than anyone else and this-this," swollen hands gestured in Sakura's direction, "this _zombie_ isn't you! Look at you!"

Ino stood to her feet, her lower lip wobbling dangerously. Damn it, she wasn't supposed to cry today! She was supposed to get her toes done by her idiot of a best friend and talk about _boys_ and figure out what the hell was up!

"You're so pale, you don't eat," Ino's cheeks flushed as distress and frustration curled tightly in her chest. "You don't have time for anyone anymore, and you're so busy with these _stupid_ missions that I'm _lucky_ if I see you around the village!

Did you forget that there's more to life than work?!"

Ino stomped towards her wide-eyed friend and jabbed a finger into her chest, uncaring of how quickly she was dissolving into angry hysterics. Sakura deserved to hear a piece of her mind!

"Did you forget that there are people who love and care about you?" She cried, swiping angrily at her dampening cheeks. "Because let me tell you, I haven't! And what if you _died out there?!_ On one of those missions you didn't even have to take! How _selfish_ can you be that you can't see that there are people here who need you!"

Sakura looked stricken, her shoulders drawing into her chest and head bowing in what Ino knew was shame. Still, she continued her angry tirade because she had had _enough._

 _Stupid Forehead, making a pregnant woman cry._

Stepping back, Ino placed her hands on her hips and glowered down at the shorter woman. "Everyone's been tiptoeing around you like you're going to break if they say anything to you, but I'm not doing that anymore! The Sakura I know is stronger than this! She wouldn't let whatever the hell _this_ is get her down and keep her there!

And I'm telling you _right now,_ Inojin needs a strong godmother or so help me God I'll tell the entire village about your collection of cheesy erotica!"

Sakura stilled, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the stubborn jut to Ino's chin. "You wouldn't _dare_ …"

" _Try_ me, Forehead," Ino challenged, her arms crossing over her ample chest. "Keep this up and everyone in the Shinobi Alliance will be talking about how sweet, little Haruno Sakura gets down. So what the _hell_ is up?!"

Sakura instantly deflated at the final pleading tone in Ino's voice. It wasn't like her stubborn friend was trying to get answers out of her for her own gain, she was only concerned for her wellbeing. Her own lower lip trembled at the burning guilt that threatened her already precarious state of mind. Ino was right; she _was_ being selfish.

She had thought that isolating herself from her friends was the most selfless thing to do, when it had been the opposite. They loved her and she had been cruel in pulling away. How many times had she hurt them by denying their invitations to dinner or training? How many times had their faces fallen when she'd brushed off attempts at conversation and worried questions about her health?

"Sakura?"

How many times had she hurt _Ino?_

Out of everyone, she hated to hurt her blonde friend the most. Ino was _everything_ to her. While Naruto was everyone's best friend—and she would always love him with the type of loyalty reserved for Team 7—Ino was _hers._ If it weren't for her, she wouldn't be _Sakura;_ and she owed it all to the woman in front of her.

"I'm a horrible person."

Ino reeled back and blinked. "Huh?"

Shaking her head, Sakura toyed with the scroll in her hands. "You're right, I _was_ being selfish. I'm sorry."

Ino's cornflower blue eyes settled on her suspiciously. "Are you just saying that to get me to shut up?"

"No." Sakura winced, cheeks flushing red. So Ino _had_ caught on to how evasive she'd been in the past.

Placing the scroll in her pack, Sakura gently curled her fingers around Ino's hand and led her to her horrendously ugly couch. The two women sat down and a heavy silence settled between them.

Sakura didn't know where to begin; or _how_ to begin, for that matter. Should she lie or tell her the truth? Ino knew her well enough to know when she wasn't being honest, but Sakura was afraid of the consequences of revealing her condition. What if Ino was afraid of her? Would she run away and never come back?

Something in her knew that Ino would _never_ tell a soul if she told her the truth; and a part of her wanted to believe that Ino would remain unfazed, but a bigger part of her knew that fear was a powerful thing. It was why many shinobi cowered in the face of the rare genjutsu master.

Sakura didn't think she'd be able to handle it if Ino left her, too.

"Is this about Sasuke?"

Ino's soft voice jolted Sakura out of her thoughts as if she'd been slapped. Angling her body towards her, Sakura raised a brow.

"Sasuke?" She asked, blinking in confusion. "What about him?"

Ino worried her bottom lip between straight white teeth before blurting out: "Karin's pregnant."

Sakura's hands tightened around her knees, sharpened nails digging into the skin beneath her pants as her lips pulled into a scowl—nearly four months later and the words still stung. Schooling her face into an expression of indifference, Sakura nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yes, I know she's pregnant. She's due in five months, right?" She said blithely, forcing herself to release the painful grip she had on her poor knees. "That's great for Sasuke, all he's ever wanted was a family."

"Oh, _c'mon_ , Sakura!" Ino threw herself further into the couch, exasperated. "Cut the bullshit!"

"No, Ino, really! I'm _happy_ for—"

"Bullshit!" Ino cried, throwing her hands in the air. "I call _bullshit!_ I don't know how that hussy managed to sink her claws into _your_ Sasuke-kun, but _everyone_ knew that you two were endgame! _Everyone!_ "

As reassuring as it was to know that everyone believed in the power of her love, Sakura could only smile sadly.

"Sasuke wasn't mine to have, Ino." Sakura said sadly, "He never was."

Growling, Ino jumped to her feet with the type of fluidness Sakura hadn't seen from her since she got pregnant to shove a finger into her face. Beryl eyes crossed over themselves to focus on a sparkly gold fingernail and Sakura offhandedly admired her friend's choice in nail polish.

"That's _bullshit_ ," Ino hissed slowly. " _You_ know it and _I_ know it. What you two had was something out of a badly written novel and I _refuse_ to believe that you just one day woke up and decided, ' _Oh, I don't want to have freaky pink haired Uchiha babies, anymore!'_ "

A vein bulged in her forehead at Ino's unflattering imitation of her voice and Sakura crossed her arms.

"But that _is_ what happened, Pig," Sakura declared through clenched teeth. "I don't love him anymore."

Ino laughed humorlessly. "Forehead, you are _such_ a bad liar."

"Now come on," Ino yanked Sakura to her feet and the girl yelped in surprise, "I came here to get my toes done and if my toes aren't golden by the time I walk out your door, I'm gonna tell everyone about that time you farted while doing sit ups."

"Oh my _god_ , Ino! I was _six!"_

Ino's laughter followed Sakura to her bedroom as she left to retrieve their stashed nail polish collection. Pausing in front of her dresser mirror, she frowned at the girl staring back at her.

Her body was hers and her hair—while a bit paler than usual—was hers. Her face was her own, and her eyes were the same green she'd known all her life, and yet, she didn't recognize her.

Taking a moment to breathe, Sakura leaned against the dresser with her palms splayed out beneath her. Releasing a shuddering breath, she felt the tension ease out of her shoulders and neck.

Ino was right. She _was_ stronger than this and maybe, Sakura glanced out the doorway, maybe she didn't have to do it alone.

"Hey, Forehead!"

"Yeah?!"

"Did you hear about that cannibal stealing organs from the morgue?!"

Sakura's breath lodged in her throat.

"N-no?!"

"Yeah! It's super scary! Now get out here and paint my ugly toes!"

Swallowing, Sakura opened a drawer and grabbed the bottle of gold nail polish, the same shade as Ino's nails, and other nail care items.

She was wrong; she was completely alone in this.

Walking out into the living room where the din of a popular soap opera was playing, Sakura set all her items onto the floor and sat down at Ino's feet. The blond beamed when she grabbed a dainty foot and started working the tension out of the pressure points with skilled thumbs and the aid of medical chakra.

"Oh my _god_ ," Ino moaned blissfully. "I _love_ you. Can you teach Sai how to do this?!"

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully, but a fond smile curled her lips as her best friend continued to make embarrassing noises. Maybe she was alone in the more obscure part of her life, but she was damn sure not alone in this one.

Love was abundant in her life and it looked like she had another thing to thank Ino for.

Until a sudden foul odor assaulted her poor unsuspecting nostrils.

"Oh, _Ino!"_

 _"_ _Sorry!_ Blame Inojin! _He's_ the one that likes red bean paste!"

.

.

* * *

.

.

The next morning saw Sakura making her way to the village gates. The sun had just begun to rise and Konoha was full of the bustling sounds of waking villagers. Store owners were unlocking doors while other establishments filled the air with the smell of baking and cooking goods. She noticed a few Genin teams shuffling their way towards the training grounds with bleary eyes and even spotted a few nurses walking home from the night shift, the young girls barely energized enough to wave hello.

The sun peaked over the green line of trees and bathed the world in golden light, casting shadows on yawning gate guards and returning shinobi. Some nodded their heads at her as she passed by while others stopped her to say hello and ask about her mission.

After her conversation with Ino, Sakura made it a note to enjoy life as much as she could. Just because things were different now, it didn't mean she couldn't continue being the same person. She _was_ the same person; she just had a different…palate than before.

And if she had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be that way for long.

Springtime was coming to a close and was giving way to summer, the sun blazing hotter with each passing day. Fellow shinobi winced sympathetically when she told them her destination was Suna as the desert sun was unforgiving. Whereas Konoha was overflowing with trees, Wind Country was a barren wasteland where nothing grew.

It was a shinobi's least favorite destination, but Sakura felt she didn't mind it all that much. Well, now she didn't. _Before,_ she had despised how easily she sunburned and the feeling of bathing in her own sweat. Now, because at the core of everything she was quite dead, these things didn't happen anymore.

In fact, Sakura deduced that she'd be able to make it to Suna in three days time rather than the standard week. She no longer needed to sleep, rest, or even hydrate. All she needed was something to eat and she'd be fine. Luckily, or unluckily for some poor soul, she had brought along her last bit of food and would be fine until next week when she needed to hunt again.

She made sure to bring all the human flesh she had stashed away in her home and sealed it into a special scroll. It was one Tsunade had designed herself for the use of transporting or storing essential organs like, say, eyeballs. It could only be opened by the shinobi who had sealed it with their own blood and unique combination of hand signs, and Sakura found it to be a godsend. Both blonds in her life had a habit of opening her scrolls and rummaging through her fridge, and Sakura was glad she wasn't dumb enough to keep human organs in her freezer in some type of _container._

Naruto had given her four weeks to complete a relatively easy courier mission; the rank was only for the contents of the scroll and she appreciated his coddling in this aspect of her life. If she handed the scroll to its recipient in four days, then she'd have enough time to hunt for food _and_ Kabuto.

Realistically, to find Kabuto she had to find the ruins of Oto and it was easier said than done. She had once tried going back to the general area of where she had first woken up and found it curiously empty. No lab, no corpses, nothing—as if they hadn't been there at all.

That had been an infuriatingly frustrating day.

Her best bet at finding anything Oto related was by finding one of Orochimaru's henchmen and beating it out of them. Again, that was easier said than done. Those freaks were annoyingly slippery.

Maybe if she contacted Sasuke…?

Sakura punted that thought out of her mind as soon as it had appeared. While it would be a great help, as he had been a former Oto-nin and must know the location of at least _one_ base, she had no desire to give him the opportunity to ask any invasive questions.

She, like most things, would have to do this on her own.

Inhaling deeply, Sakura's eyes fluttered shut and she basked in the soothing scent of fresh cut grass and clean air. An errant breeze caressed her cheeks, her hair whipping gently about her sun warmed face and she exhaled.

At her side, leather gloves creaked with the tightening of her fists.

Opening her eyes, determination set into the lines of her face.

Time to get to work.

.

.

 _tbc_

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** Wow! I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter! I'm still a little undecided about pairings, but I'm kind of stuck between ItaSaku and KakaSaku. I have drawn up scenarios for both and I could make one platonic and the other romantic. Or I could not have any at all...

Hm. I can't decide! I LOVE THEM BOTH.


	4. Acid Rain

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 ** _A/N:_** _Thank you guys for all of the lovely reviews! Please review the bottom Author's Notes for more commentary!_

 **Song Inspo: Acid Rain by Lorn.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **THREE**

* * *

 _"Daylight_

 _In bad dreams_

 _In a cool world_

 _Full of cruel things..."_

* * *

 **.**

 **.**

Completing her mission was disappointingly easy, but it was expected from someone of her caliber. The scroll had gone to one of Suna's magistrates and she had taken a day to spend time with old friends. She had teased Temari about her relationship with Konoha's resident lazy pineapple and Kankuro, in return, made a teasing comment about her new look and Sakura took the badgering with a light heart. Gaara, on the other hand, had observed her too closely for her liking.

She'd entered Suna's actual gates only a handful of times since her turning, preferring to keep to tasks along the borders of Wind, and had noticed his unsettling eyes following her every move whenever she was in the immediate area.

She was wary of him.

Sakura suspected he knew more about her than he let on and it made her skittish. He made her paranoia reach disturbing heights and _she didn't like it._ All it took was one— _just one_ —courier nin carrying a message full of speculation and her life was _over._

She'd _eat_ that courier nin before she let that happen.

…

Or not. She wouldn't risk the alliance like that.

Nonetheless, Gaara was always too interested in her whenever he had a chance to speak to her. At first glance, the questions he asked were things normal friends asked each other: how was she doing, was she eating enough, did she need assistance with anything, was she making any advancement in personal goals; but Sakura felt there were hidden meanings behind those questions of his.

If her heart were capable of it, she was sure it'd be beating a wild staccato in his presence.

He knew something and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

Some good things came from this mission, though, she mused happily. On her way to Suna, she found a fresh corpse of a bandit. Observation was enough to deduce that he'd died from dehydration and she had taken the opportunity to fill her belly. Although the pallor of her skin hadn't changed much, she almost felt like she was glowing. Her hair had returned to its normal shade of rose quartzite and her eyes were sharper.

The world seemed brighter and clearer whenever she ate.

But the most important thing to have happened was Gaara's intelligence.

They had found another Sound base—this one in Birds Country. She tried very hard not to question Gaara's reasonings for divulging something others would think trivial to her interests.

While Konoha had a kill on sight order for Kabuto and Orochimaru, the rest of the world didn't, nor did they know about it. Those two were _their_ loose ends, and they were determined to be rid of them.

As far as the rest of the world knew, all Konoha had cared about in regard to Sound was Sasuke; he was a Leaf-nin now, and wasn't that all she and Naruto had ever wanted?

Regardless of his reasons behind it, Sakura now had a lead to her own personal mission and she was _ecstatic_.

 _Eight months_ of nearly nothing and she _finally_ had something.

She wouldn't waste the opportunity.

As she crossed Wind's unforgiving landscape towards Birds, her distinctive pink hair tucked into the hood of her cloak, she ruminated on what she knew so far.

Whenever she wasn't busy on missions searching for dead ends, Sakura was researching her current state. Blood samples solidified Kabuto's hypothesis—the virus had done what it had been designed to do.

Her DNA had been altered so thoroughly it wasn't even human, anymore. In fact, Sakura was pretty sure she was half Venus flytrap. Her entire biology was a confusing combination of plant and animal cells.

As Kabuto said, her cells divided at an astounding rate. It was almost like a cancer, each cell absorbing and outputting uncontrollable amounts of chakra, and he was right when he said her fine-spun chakra control would handle the rest. Her chakra, without her bidding, destroyed each cancerous cell and turned it into a source of energy. Unfortunately, what Kabuto hadn't accounted for was that this energy would manifest itself as hunger soon after.

Under a microscope, Sakura had watched grimly as her sample cells divided rapidly, were halted by a small stream of her chakra, then violently consumed themselves.

Her petri dish had exploded.

Through trials she had conducted on herself, she learned that chakra flooding through her pathways immediately spread out into her cells and made her an animal.

Literally.

Primal instincts robbed her of rational thought and it was only her will power that made her focus on morality and intelligence. She was incredibly strong and a chakra powerhouse during these times, but the urge to _kill_ and _destroy_ was nearly impossible to reign in.

What's more, any and all injuries barely bled and healed on their own because of her constant state of regeneration.

Sakura was pretty sure she couldn't die and she was _pretty_ sure she couldn't age either.

Now wouldn't Tsunade-shishou be jealous?

But after…after these moments of monstrosity, she _had_ to eat. She felt empty, like she hadn't eaten in years and was a starving animal.

She guessed it had something to do with the mixture of Zetsu's animal cells and her own human cells. While the prokaryotic cells in her body were self-sustainable, the eukaryotic cells in her body needed sustenance to produce energy. The confusion caused her body to attack itself; which is why, when she needed to eat, her body went through physical changes.

Unfortunately, Sakura still didn't know why she had to eat human instead of animal flesh. She'd tried the animal route and it had done nothing for her. If she could figure out why Zetsu ate his victims, maybe she'd be able to find a way to reverse it.

She had tried to find the cure itself by using her own cells, but she _needed_ the original virus. If she could recreate the formula, break down its structure chemically, and then create an antiviral that would attack and kill the non-human parts of her, she'd possibly be able to find an actual cure. If that didn't work, she'd have to try fuinjutsu, and that was her absolute _last_ resort because she'd have to tell Naruto.

Everything was uncertain and she _hated_ it.

Reaching Birds Country, Sakura reached into her hip pouch and pulled out her map. Gaara had said that Sound's hidden base was close to the border between Wind and Birds, a few kilometers away from Gokayama. It was once hidden by a genjutsu but it had been undone by someone recently. Suna's scouts had reported the discovery and out of good will Suna had decided to let Konoha investigate it.

However, she didn't doubt that Gaara had sent his own personal scouts to consider any threat levels. If they had found something, Sakura had a feeling Gaara would have told her.

But he hadn't, so that meant there was either nothing in there or something they hadn't seen.

Or maybe Suna really _had_ left it up to Konoha's discretion.

Whatever the case, she wouldn't know until she got there.

Squaring her shoulders with a clenched jaw, Sakura set out towards what would hopefully be her first big break.

Taking in the terrain, the rosette curiously noted that while Tori no Kuni was a small country situated between Earth and Wind, the land had an abundance of water. There weren't many trees or grass and the dirt was mostly sand, but there was mossy undergrowth.

She ran through the forest with her senses expanded, searching for any lingering trace of chakra. Genjutsu left a residue behind when it was used and dispelled, kind of like an oily coating on your tongue, but depending on how long ago it had been released, the trail could be obvious like rope or nearly invisible like spider silk.

Sakura skidded to a hasty stop on a moss covered branch when she felt something a few meters to the left. Focusing all her attention on that one feeling tickling the back of her throat, she expanded her senses until she found traces of a web.

Baring her teeth in a mockery of a grin, she launched off the branch with the grace of a bull and left a crater in the wake of her landing. Nearing the source of the feeling, Sakura stalked forward purposely until instinct told her to fall back. Hiding behind a tree and suppressing her chakra, she palmed a kunai.

To reach out her chakra to probe for signatures was a rookie's mistake, so she waited with baited breath for her cause of alarm. Normally, she wouldn't be afraid to face whoever it was head on but this was a delicate mission.

Subtlety and tact was essential. No one was supposed to know she was here.

Luckily for her, Sakura was well versed in silent killing and dusk was rapidly approaching. She'd hide and attack from the shadows.

The sun casted long shadows across the land and she used it to her advantage. Shinobi learned to use every tool in their arsenal to their disposal, and her current condition was no exception. Creeping farther into the descending darkness and closing her eyes, Sakura exhaled deeply and slowed her already sluggish heartbeat.

Technically, she was dead. She didn't need to breathe, didn't need to sleep, she didn't even need to have a heartbeat. However, to avoid suspicion, Sakura's subconscious had learned to keep the organ pumping slow amounts of blood to maintain blood flowing through her limbs and organs. Not only was she afraid that if she stopped it completely her limbs would lock up in some type of rigor mortis and her organs would start to decay, (subsequently making it impossible for her to become human again, for no medic was godly enough to reverse necrosis), she worried that her friends would forcibly admit her to the hospital to get examined.

They already asked too many questions regarding her appearance and core body temperature, she was sure that someone had already noticed something was up and was looking for a reason to approach her about it.

There was a reason why she avoided the Hyuuga Clan like a plague.

Not having much experience with being dead, she decided she'd rather be safe than sorry in that area.

But for now, she'd take a small risk for her cause.

Sakura's presence disappeared.

Climbing up a tree with the grace of a panther, she flattened herself against a branch and observed from the distance as four shinobi strolled into one of the many large clearings between the sparse trees.

Two were young enough to be Genin whereas the other two could possibly be Jounin. Without her chakra, Sakura couldn't tell; it was the only drawback to her invisibility trick. What she _could_ see was their headband declaring their allegiance to Oto.

Swallowing against the anticipation, darkened eyes followed the two Genin as they disappeared into the bushes for a loudly announced bathroom break. Resisting the urge to shake her head at the complacency, she frowned and slunk slowly across the tree's branches until she was facing the direction they had disappeared off to.

Sakura hated to kill Genin but it had to be done. Silently crawling on all fours like a contortionist, she crept from tree to tree until she crouched on a branch directly above their heads. Just as she steeled herself to silently swoop down and simultaneously slit their throats, their words made her falter.

"I can't _believe_ we're on a mission!" The one peeing on the tree beamed at his friend who was supposed to be watching his back. "Our first mission _ever!"_

"Shut up, idiot!" The boy with green hair snapped even though a grin stretched his own lips, "There could be someone out there!"

The other boy scoffed, zipping up his fly and flipping his brown ponytail over his shoulder in a move reminiscent of Ino. _"No one_ ever comes this way in Birds, everyone knows that. That's why Orochimaru-sama built that base here."

Green Hair rolled his eyes, his kunai lowering as he turned to face his friend. "Oh, yeah? So then why were those Suna nin here?"

Brown Hair flushed at the derisive tone in the other boy's voice and he clenched his fists. "You shut up! You just think that because you're 11—"

"I'm _twelve—"_

"—And I'm 10, you get to boss me around! Well I'll tell ya what, pork face, you ain't the boss of _me!"_

 _"_ _Yes I am!_ Orochimaru-sama said to come back with the heads of enemy nin and I'm _way_ stronger than you so that makes me the boss!"

Sakura felt sick to her stomach and bit her lip to quell the rising rage. These boys were _children_ and if Orochimaru had sent them to these ruins while knowing there was the possibility of powerful Leaf or Suna nin lurking around it meant he had plans.

"Oh, yeah?! Well, we've been here for two weeks now and I don't see any heads, do you?!"

"You just wait! It doesn't matter, anyway! Kabuto-sama said he'd show us something cool when we came back, so how about you just follow me and do everything I say!"

It was a trap and these boys were cannon fodder.

Closing her eyes as the boys' bickering washed over her, she rested her forehead against her arm and prayed for strength from any god that hadn't abandoned her.

If the trap didn't catch and they returned empty handed, the Jounin in the clearing would probably be spared but these Genin would be subjected to whatever cruel and twisted things Kabuto had promised them.

She'd be kind by giving them a merciful death—quick and painless.

But, _Gods_ , they were _children!_

A tear fell from her eye onto the bark below her.

As she swooped down like the embodiment of death, cloak billowing out behind her like an ominous cloud, she told herself it was a mercy.

When she pressed her palms onto their small chests to stop their beating hearts with medical chakra, she dared not look into their stunned eyes and told herself she was being kind.

As she hid the corpses in an alcove behind some bushes, she cursed the evil in the world and Kabuto thrice to Hell.

Swinging herself up into the tree, Sakura sniffled then steeled her will. Now was not the time to cry over two enemy children. Death was a part of being a shinobi and as a medic-nin she knew that very well.

Nightfall had since fallen and she prepared herself to wait for the two older shinobi to come searching for their charges.

She didn't have to wait long, and she pressed herself closer to the tree as the two men called out the two boys' name. Suspecting foul play, the taller of the two unsheathed his tanto. Nodding at the other man, he flash stepped into another part of the woods—if you could even call it that.

Darkness swallowed the clearing as a large cloud obstructed the light of the waning moon and Sakura crept forward until she hovered over the last one left.

He lowered into a defensive crouch, tension lining his shoulders and cording around his neck as his eyes swept from corner to corner, and she let the silence of the woods unnerve him—let the fear of the unknown unsettle him. All she had to do was wait.

From where she was poised to strike, Sakura tracked the bead of sweat making its way down his temple.

A feral smile curled her lips.

He felt hunted— _good_.

He made the mistake of wiping his face with a forearm and in a heartbeat it was over. She came down on him like a silent ghost, green chakra illuminating her face eerily as she pressed both hands to his chest to stop his heart as well. The man died with an expulsion of breath against her face and she caught him before he fell.

Lifting him into her arms, she placed him in the same alcove as the other two. Turning around from her handiwork, Sakura considered the now silent clearing. She couldn't feel the other Oto nin, but she knew he was out there.

A moment ago, the darkness was her friend; but now, it hid the enemy. Her lips tightened into a thin white line as she measured the benefits of waiting for him to return or hunting him instead.

"You _fucker!"_

Ah, well, it seemed like the choice had been made for her.

"What did you do to them, you fucking freak?!"

Honestly, Oto nin were so unprofessional. She turned around silently to observe him from beneath the hood of her cloak. Her face was covered in shadow and she offered him nothing.

The man tired of her impudence and lunged at her with a quick taijutsu combination that surprised her. She crouched low as his fist swung over her head and she retaliated by sweeping her leg towards his shins. Leaping away, he launched through a series of hand seals and a loud sonic boom pierced the silence of the night.

Even though she expected it, she still cursed as the unholy sound ruptured her eardrums and knocked her off balance. Forcing herself to her feet, she sloppily avoided being decapitated.

 _Damn it,_ she cursed the need to stay anonymous. While she could unleash her monstrous strength and finish it quickly, there were only two people in the entire world who had such strength, and as far as Orochimaru and Kabuto knew, one of them was dead.

Not only that, the adrenaline rushing through her veins and chakra surging through her pathways was awakening the virus and Sakura _did_ not have the time to go cannibalistic right now. Even now, with something minor like ruptured eardrums, her breathing and heartbeat was fading and her extremities were cooling rapidly. It wouldn't be long before that dreaded white hot anger consumed her and ruined her attempts towards subtlety.

The man chuckled at whatever expression she must have had on her face and he brought the blade of his tanto to his lips. Sakura's eyes widened at the blood she saw dripping from its surface and jerked a hand to her neck reflexively.

As he licked her blood off his tanto, Sakura made a sound of disgust low in her throat.

Whether she was disgusted towards his actions, or her own misstep, she couldn't tell.

Her chakra rushed towards the wound and engulfed it in a green glow; it illuminated the contours of her lower face, giving the man full view of the veins spreading and rupturing beneath her cadaverous skin.

A snarl ripped from her throat, the sound of it curdling the man's blood, and she lunged at him with the speed of something inhuman. The Sound-nin made a choked sound of surprise when her fist made contact with his chest, bodily lifting him off the ground and launching him into a tree.

His bones made a sickening crack upon contact, and she knew without a doubt that she had broken his spine. She took a moment to compose herself, focusing instead on her breathing than the tingling beneath her skin.

She felt the tale-tell coolness of her medical chakra flooding her body, noting how it fixed ruptured blood vessels and collapsed veins.

Once she felt composed enough to confront the whimpering man before her without ripping into his skull, she stalked towards him intently.

The Sound-nin's sobs made her grimace as she took in his crumpled form, his back bent unnaturally and his legs nearly severed from the knees down.

She hadn't put enough chakra into her hit for it to blow out his chest, but his body's impact with the tree had done the work for her.

"P-please," he begged once she came close enough to hear his wheezing cries. "Kill me! It hurts— _oh god_ , it hurts!"

A part of her that was still very much human—and civilian—was horrified at the damage she'd done and pitied him. But the larger part of her, the seasoned shinobi who'd lived through the Akatsuki and the Fourth Great War, sneered at his inability to accept death gracefully.

After all, when she had died, she'd gone out cursing and vengeful.

Sakura stood before his mangled body, wrinkling her nose at the scent of urine assaulting her heightened olfactory senses, and crouched down until they were at eye level.

Whatever the man saw in her face made the breath catch in his throat and she watched as some type of light entered his eyes before the muscles in his jaw started working furiously.

It took her only a second, but her eyes widened when she realized what he was doing. Her hand shot out like a viper, catching his jaw in a steely grip as the fingers of her other hand plunged into his mouth to dig around his molars.

It was a disgusting feeling and it reminded Sakura why she'd never be a dentist.

The shinobi made a sound of despair when he saw her extract the hidden cyanide pill from the pocket where a molar used to be. Releasing him, Sakura crushed the pill between her fingers and wiped its remnants on the fabric of her pants.

"That pill," she started slowly, conversationally, "means you know something."

Leaning back on her haunches and crossing her arms over her knees, she tilted her head. "Now what could that be?"

"I-I'll die before I give information to Konoha-scum like you!" He spat, spittle dribbling down his chin.

Really, Sakura commended his bravery. Stupid as it may be.

"Now, now," Sakura sang, "Let's not get too hasty. I believe you were begging for death only a minute ago. You help me, and I'll help you."

When the Sound nin spit a bloody loogie at her chest, she decided that she really didn't feel like being helpful today anyway.

In a moment too fast for the Sound-nin to follow, she reached over and snapped the fingers of his right hand. His screams were hoarse as he cursed her, her village, and the whore who spawned her.

"Perhaps you've forgotten your position." Reaching over, she passed a glowing hand over his broken bones, mending them roughly but quickly. "I can keep you alive for as long as I please."

" _Fuck_ you!"

Sakura sighed. Oh, how she hated when they were uncooperative. All they had to do was pass along some knowledge and she'd give them what they wanted. It wasn't like Kabuto was going to be nicer to them or something—since they'd be dead and all.

Pride was a silly thing.

"Okay," she said calmly even though her patience was wearing thin, "Maybe I didn't make myself clear. You _will_ tell me what you know or I will break you then heal you over and _over_ again until you give me what I want."

Leaning in close enough to feel his labored breaths against her face, she bared her teeth in a mockery of a smile. "And I feel inclined to remind you, Shinobi-san, there are worse things than death."

Though his eyes were wide and glassy with fear, he tightened his cracked lips stubbornly and Sakura nearly groaned.

She was in for a long night.

* * *

After two hours of creatively applying medical chakra in a way that would make Tsunade-shishou decimate the Hokage tower in rage and revoke her medical license, Sakura was able to extract the information she needed.

Even though she could have gone for the more traditional type of torture—as in, breaking bones, ripping off fingernails and playing psychological games—she found she didn't have the patience for it. That was more of Ino's thing, anyway.

The same way medical chakra could be used to heal, it could be used to induce unimaginable amounts of pain. All she had to do was stimulate the pain receptors and nerves around open wounds and the most painful points of the body.

The only reason why medical ninja weren't interrogators was because it was undoubtedly unethical.

And, clearly, Sakura had left her ethics behind once she started an all human diet.

Needless to say, she had him singing like a canary and while the reward wasn't _great_ , it was good enough.

Before she slit his throat, he had given her the location to the base he and the other three had dispatched from, which would have been great intel in any other situation had he not disdainfully told her they had moved locations a week ago. He and the others were supposed to rendezvous with Kabuto in two days to report in on the activity around the base and receive the coordinates to the new one.

Her lips tightened into a grim line. She was right in that it was a trap; who it was laid out for, she didn't know. Either way, she wasn't stupid enough to go to that rendezvous and risk being discovered.

Were she 16 and Naruto, she might have. But she was 23 and Sakura, and she knew better than charging into things without knowing the consequences first.

Especially without any type of back-up.

The moon was high in the sky as she made her way towards the Sound base she came to investigate. At first glance it seemed like a lonely boulder in the middle of nowhere, but a quick dispelling of the genjutsu over it revealed a network of doors built into the ground.

Sakura grimaced; she hated being underground.

Her taijutsu was limited lest she risk being caved in, she couldn't see, and she damn well knew that there were traps she was probably going to trip.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura rolled her shoulders before reaching down and grasping the handles to the double doors and ripping them off their hinges. She was met with stone steps leading to darkness and the rushing wind eerily echoing through empty corridors.

She didn't know what sort of trap they had laid out, nor did she know what horrors awaited her down there. For all she knew, she could be walking into a labyrinth of death and misery.

The little girl in her that was still afraid of the dark begged her to turn around and go home to where it was safe, to where there weren't ghastly things possibly waiting behind every corner to rip her apart, and she so _badly_ wanted to do just that.

Just because she was undead it didn't mean she couldn't feel fear.

But she _needed_ to search the labs for something— _anything_ —Kabuto might have left behind.

Swallowing against the unwelcome apprehension burrowing into her chest, she took her first step down into the darkness.

 **.**

 **.**

 **tbc**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Most of you don't want pairings, while the others want some KakaSaku and ItaSaku. While Itachi IS dead in my AU, we can definitely see that Kabuto is not above bringing back the dead to get what he or Orochimaru want. He might be a character in this story, he might not. Romance might not even be a huge part in the story, but we shall see!_

 _I'm glad some of you like the inclusion of Ino and the others!_

 _Please tell me what you guys think of the pacing. I sometimes draw things out without giving much action, but there are lots of little things in here that show Sakura's journey towards the cure and the mistakes she's making._

 _Things definitely pick up next chapter!_


	5. Way Down We Go

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 _ **A/N:** Thanks for all of your lovely reviews! Many thanks to **tiffthom**_ _for BETA'ing this chapter._

 **Song Inspo: _Way Down We Go by Kaleo_**

 **.**

 **.**

 **FOUR**

* * *

 _"Oh, Father, tell me_

 _Do we get what we deserve?"_

* * *

 **.**

 **.**

Unsurprisingly, the first thing Sakura encountered upon that first step into the unknown was a tarantula to the face, and if that didn't set the scene to Orochimaru's little house of horrors, she didn't know what would.

Muffling a screech, she grabbed the terrifying creature and threw it as far away from her as she could. If there was one thing she hadn't gotten over, it was her disgust towards any and all insects.

Shino understood.

Grumbling irritably and shuddering at the phantom feel of eight hairy legs on the delicate skin of her face, Sakura descended further into the abandoned facility. Air pressure increased as she continued underground and she flexed her jaw to relieve the popping in her inner ears.

The farther she went, the darker it became until only a little bit of moonlight was reflected from the stones overhead and she reached out with a steady hand to grab an abandoned torch mounted on the wall. A quick katon jutsu set it ablaze and she blinked at the onslaught of light.

Before her were more steps leading deeper below the Earth and she strained her ears to listen for any movement. When all that reached her was the sound of the howling wind blowing through the open entrance, she relaxed minutely.

Even though she was still on her guard for traps, she didn't feel like she was about to be ambushed. The place seemed well and truly abandoned.

To her, the slow beating of her mostly dead heart seemed unbearably loud in the wake of such pervading silence. Even the sounds her heavily booted feet made as she descended were muffled by the stonework. There weren't any traces of moss on the walls the further she got from the entrance, nor were there any more creepy-crawlies or moisture in the air.

It reminded her of a catacomb. Which, knowing Orochimaru and Kabuto, it probably was.

Reaching the bottom of the steps, Sakura's torch illuminated what lay before her and she inhaled sharply.

 _"_ _Shit."_

Her solitary voice bounced loudly off the stone walls as she took in the seven different pathways surrounding her from all sides. Each one led to pitch and she scowled because she _knew_ there were all sorts of traps waiting for her.

Hokages forbid Kabuto or Orochimaru make this _easy_ for her.

But it wasn't that she was afraid of these traps—she was a legendary shinobi, she could _handle_ traps—it was the fact that somewhere in those pathways was a blade that would inevitably stab her.

And Sakura _hated_ getting stabbed.

Getting stabbed was part of her job description and, even though it hurt, she never used to complain about it. Hell, Sasori and Madara had both stabbed her in the gut (though she'd swear that feeling your stomach acids leak into your guts was the most agonizing thing in the world) and she had taken it all in stride.

But that was before Kabuto had fucked her whole world up.

Now…now she had to be extremely careful of anything that could slice her. Sakura grimaced at the memory of a time at the nurse's station where she'd gotten a papercut and had to hastily stuff herself in a locker until her fury and homicidal urges subsided.

Whenever she started to _turn_ , as she liked to call it, Sakura lost all sense of humanity and she had a small window of three seconds to acknowledge the inevitable and separate herself from whoever's around her.

Hence why she stuffed herself in a locker. Zombie-Sakura was dumb enough—well, maybe not _dumb_ , so to speak, just completely oblivious to anything other than bloodshed and food—to not simply push it open and escape.

Or so she'd hoped.

Episodes brought on by non-life-threatening situations were like seizures: they could last a few seconds or a few minutes before she came back to herself.

Thankfully, that one episode only lasted a whole minute before she stepped out of the locker the same moment a nurse walked into the room.

Poor Aiko-chan had never looked so confused.

So, the point was, Sakura hated getting stabbed because she _hated_ the feeling of turning.

Exhaling deeply, she took a moment to steel herself against the impatience brewing under her skin. If she didn't take the time to go through each hall patiently, she'd most likely miss something and that would _suck._

But maybe if luck was on her side, the first path she took would be the one to lead to Kabuto's lab.

Taking a moment to think, Sakura pursed her lips. If she were Kabuto, where would she place her lab?

Would it be the hall directly in front of her? Surely his lab would also double as a treatment facility and Sound's shinobi would know to take the direct path to get there.

Or would it be the first one on the left? At her 10' o clock. Or maybe the one all the way to the right, at her three.

A huff escaped irritably from chapped lips. Who was she kidding? She didn't know where anything was placed in this little slice of Hell.

Choosing the pathway at her three, because the exit was to her six, she stomped towards it resolutely and hoped that there weren't any death pits waiting for her.

* * *

 **.**

 **.**

As luck would have it, the first hall she took led to the prisons—or rather, cages. There was also a curious absence of traps (and death pits), which would indicate that they either left in a hurry or someone had disabled them. Either way, it worked out for her.

The air smelled like rotting corpses and human waste; which made sense when Sakura's torchlight fell upon the decomposing corpses of two prisoners huddled together against the cold seeping through the walls.

Without exposure to the elements, the human body decomposes at a slower rate than normal. These two souls looked like they'd been dead for a few weeks, but the state of abandonment of this place implied that they'd probably died months ago. Their distinctly civilian yukatas were still intact and hanging off their sagging frames.

Sakura could make out their sunken features by the crackling light of the source in her hand—stricken and sorrowed in their final moments.

Her heart reached out to them. What must they have felt in this panoptic stillness? In these cramped halls where the only things that kept them from freedom were deceptively frail iron bars—knowing that they were left there to rot in the darkness for all eternity?

Did they weep for loved ones that they'd never see again? Cry out for their mothers and curse the gods who damned them? In the end, had they held onto hope of salvation?

She felt the lingering sadness and misery deep in her bones. They stifled the air around her, made her want to claw off her own skin and gasp for breath, and she hurriedly turned away from the sight.

Closing her eyes, Sakura breathed against the distress that bubbled in her chest. Death was a part of life; death was a part of _her_ life. So why did these two bodies affect her this much?

 _Because they had suffered._

Because they were innocents whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because, in the end, they had clung to each other for warmth and comfort.

Because no one deserves to die afraid.

Opening her eyes and blinking against the tears, her blurred gaze landed on a closed door in front of her. Wiping her running nose with the sleeve of her cloak, Sakura took purposeful strides towards it before easing it open.

Kabuto's lab.

Bracing herself and smothering the hope for what she might find, she stepped inside and shut the door against that overwhelming anguish, determined to put the image of their hollowed faces out of her mind.

Unsurprisingly, this one room felt colder and heavier than the rest.

Holding the torchlight out in front of her, the warm glow casted shadows over the steel table placed in the center of the room and the wooden cabinets along the walls. There was a wooden desk and file cabinet in the farthest left corner of the room and she quickly made her way to it.

She resisted the desire to go for the filing cabinet first and went for the desk. Often, researchers unknowingly left important documents where they had fallen behind the drawers. Carefully placing the torch in a holder on the wall by the desk, Sakura wrenched the drawers from their places. While the drawers themselves were empty, the places behind them had a few slips of paper crumpled against the desk frame.

Pulling them out delicately, she placed them on the desk and smoothed them out with shaking hands. She swallowed against her suddenly dry mouth, a cool sweat breaking out on her lower back. While the lettering was small and the light of the torch was too dim to make out what they said, they were most definitely data sheets and Sakura had a deep feeling that whatever was there was an important piece to her puzzle.

Dipping her head beneath the desk, she felt around for any more sheets of paper and found one stuck between a crevice in the wood and the metal brackets. In her excitement, she pulled it too roughly and she cursed when the paper ripped. Reaching in again, she grabbed the ripped portion and placed it on top of the desk with its source as she stood.

Turning, in a half step she was opening the file cabinet and grabbing whatever folders and file jackets were left. There weren't many, but there was enough for hope to bloom in her chest and a smile to curl her lips. Unlike the desk, there weren't any loose paperwork in the filing cabinet—not even behind the drawers—and she moved on to the cabinets along the wall.

Disappointingly, they were all empty. There wasn't even an empty bottle or beaker left behind.

Chances were that Orochimaru told Kabuto to grab all the materials and chemicals first before taking only the most important of files with him.

Her jaw clenched; that probably meant that whatever he had left behind was irrelevant to the new Cursed Seal and Virus.

Shutting the cabinet doors forcibly, Sakura raked a hand through her tousled hair and hissed when her fingers caught on a snag. Gently undoing the knot in her short locks, she had a fleeting girly yearning for it to grow. Yes, cutting it had been an announcement to the world that she cared more for her career than her looks; but she had _loved_ her long, silky and luxurious hair.

Funny how you realize how much you love things when you can't have them anymore.

Walking back towards the papers and files on the desk, Sakura swore that she'd grow out her hair as soon as she was back to normal—as a grand ol' _fuck you_ to Kabuto.

Pulling a sealing scroll from her pack and carefully arranging everything nicely on its blank surface, Sakura bit her thumb and smeared it across the scroll's surface. The documents disappeared with a soft _'pop'_ and she grabbed the scroll before it fell to the ground and replaced it in her hip pouch.

After all, her most important items went there.

Grabbing the torch once more, Sakura turned slowly to sweep her gaze over the room one last time to make sure she got everything. Satisfied that she did, she left the lab and somehow that sadness from before wasn't as ominous when in the face of her newfound optimism.

Still sad, though.

Keeping her head turned away from all the prisoners stuck in their death throes, she focused on the sounds of her boots landing heavily on stone until she reached the end of the path. On a whim, she turned to face the mouth of the hallway, clasped her hands together (torch and all) and offered a silent prayer for those departed souls who might have lingered.

Pivoting on the ball of her foot, she made her way towards the stone steps leading out of the base with a small grin on her face. For the first time in a long time, she was excited about something!

A low moan pierced the silence of the catacombs and the lightness of her heart.

Breath catching in her throat, Sakura whirled around to stare into the darkness with wide eyes. When another terrible moan came from the same pathway she had just left, an embarrassing squeak fell from her lips.

"Oh, _hell no,"_ she breathed as she turned around to sprint up the stairs like a bat out of hell. " _Fuck that._ "

When she made it above ground, Sakura quickly turned and shut the doors. With a fire style jutsu she learned from Sasuke when they were on good terms, she welded the doors shut before running over to grab the lone boulder on the clearing to place it on top.

Breathing heavily (which was completely melodramatic because she didn't even _need_ to breathe), Sakura ignored that ugly little voice in her head that told her that she was doing too much because she had known, without a doubt, that everyone in those cells were _dead_.

Dead as doorknobs, dead like Madara, dead like the skin on Naruto's unpedicured feet.

Zombie she may be but there was _no way in hell_ she was fucking around with ghosts.

A sudden heat warmed the toes of her boots and she looked down curiously before a slew of curses tumbled from her lips. How stupid was she to have dropped the torch in her irrational fear!

Hastily putting out what was quickly becoming a brush fire with a Suiton jutsu, the small rosette woman huffed as she began walking away from the stuff of nightmares.

Looking up at the sky as a judge of how much time she had left until sunrise, she was surprised to note that it was already peaking over the horizon. It washed the heavens in peaceful shades of gold and blues, pinks and purples.

When Sakura had been younger, back when she was naive and little and believed that friendship and bonds were forever, she had likened Team 7 to the sunrise. On the surface, the colors matched. She was clearly pink, Naruto was obviously orange, Sasuke was blue, and Kakashi was the transitioning shadows.

But it was deeper than that; to her, they were as constant as the sunrise. Just like the sunrise would always come to be, so would Team 7— _her_ Team 7 was forever.

When it proved to be untrue, she had been unable to look at the sunrise for years.

Now though, now that Team 7 was whole again, she likened it to other things. Like the blue of Naruto's eyes when he was happy, the orange of Sasuke's proud Katon, the pink of Kakashi's cheeks when he was reading his smut, the purple of the seal on her forehead and her strength, and the transitioning shadows the color of Sai's great tigers.

Sakura loved sunrises.

Summer days were more humid in Birds Country, but she enjoyed the coolness of the wind as it caressed her cheeks and gently mussed her hair. Unfortunately, she couldn't enjoy the scent of dewy grass and cool air any longer. She had to get back home and review her new findings.

Brushing off residual dirt from her cloak, Sakura groaned unhappily at the gritty feel of sand between her fingers.

She wasn't even _in_ Wind anymore!

This is why no one liked sand, in her grand opinion; it got into places it wasn't supposed to and _stayed_ there. Shaking her hand free of the devil's exfoliant, she adjusted her pack tightly to her back and then leapt into the trees towards home.

If she had been paying attention, or even bothered to look back, she would have noticed that the sand followed.

* * *

 **.**

.

Sakura crossed the border to Hi no Kuni three days after her departure from Birds Country and felt the heat _immediately._ Just because she couldn't sweat didn't mean that she couldn't feel the effects of the weather, and Konoha was going through the _bitchiest_ of heat waves right now.

She could already hear Ino-pig bemoaning her melting foundation and eyeliner.

Chuckling to herself, she stopped on a branch to remove her cloak and change out her long-sleeved mesh shirt for a short one without sleeves. Over that she zipped up a cropped red vest with a hood and made sure to zip it up only _just so_ in the way that Ino suggested.

Actually, Ino-pig said she'd look a whole lot sexier if she got rid of the mesh shirt entirely and stuck with the vest, but Sakura was too pale for that—she'd probably blind someone. Regardless, mesh shirt or no mesh shirt, Sakura looked pretty damned badass with her tops, combat pants, and closed toe boots.

As if to bolster her confidence, she could almost hear Kiba's obnoxious voice shouting, " _Official~"_

Oh, wait, that _was_ Kiba's obnoxiously loud voice.

Turning towards the sound of panting breaths and loud footfalls, she watched with a raised brow as Kiba skidded to a stop in front of her with a fanged grin.

"You look like a badass assassin from the comics, Sakura." He said with a wolfish grin, winking at her and waggling his brows. "You know, the hot ones?"

Sakura shook her head with a fond smile. "Hey, Kiba."

Looking around, she spotted Akamaru standing behind a tree with his tail tucked between his legs and she raised a brow. "What's wrong with Akamaru?"

Kiba blinked. "Huh?"

Quickly spotting the cowering Akamaru, Kiba's brow furrowed as he called, "C'mon, boy! It's just Sakura!"

But Akamaru only whined and slunk further behind the cover of the trees, his fur standing on end, and Kiba frowned.

"Is he okay?" Sakura asked, even though unease started to curl in the pit of her stomach.

Kiba shook his head, bewildered at his companion's strange behavior. "I dunno, he's never been like this…"

Kiba went over to talk to his familiar and Sakura suppressed a wince when Kiba looked back at her strangely, his eyes narrowing with unfamiliar intent and she didn't like it.

"Hey," he started slowly as he stood, his hand surreptitiously moving towards his kunai pouch, "Sakura—"

"You know what, Kiba? I've really gotta go make this report and I can't keep Naruto waiting so I'm _justgonnagobye."_

Leaping into the trees, Sakura ignored his affronted shout and sprinted as fast as she could towards the Hokage tower. She flashed her hitai-ite to the gate guards who nodded her in and when she made it to the tower, she threw her mission report at a sleeping Naruto's head before speeding home with the blonde's, _"Welcome back, Sakura-chan!"_ at her back.

When she made it to her door, Sakura's paranoia took form when she wrenched it open with a flourish, closed it with a bang, then locked all four of her locks, checked the traps on her windows, and made sure that her _'food'_ scrolls were hidden.

It wouldn't do to have Kiba sniffing around her apartment, and that look in his eyes made her suspect that he'd do just that.

Everyone knew that Kiba was a conspiracy theorist to the highest degree. When Orochimaru first appeared to them as Genin, he had been droning on and on about the existence and proof of lizard people for weeks. Then during the war when the dead came back to life, he had been the first to shout: _"I fucking_ knew _zombies were real!"_

He was sorely disappointed when said zombies didn't try to eat anyone; but Sakura was sure that if he even got a _whiff_ of the fact that _she_ did, he'd be spreading rumors and talking about it in every bar in Konoha to anyone who would listen.

He'd probably try to kill her, too.

Oh, God.

Kiba would probably try to _fucking_ kill her!

Sakura suddenly felt sick, and she quickly plopped down onto her ugly couch to place her head between her knees.

No, _no_. Kiba wouldn't try to kill her—he was her _friend!_ They fought, bled, and cried together! Surely that had to count for something. _Surely_ he wouldn't lead a mob of people bearing pitchforks and torches to her door, right?

Oh, gods. She was too young to be having crises like these.

Sakura sat on her couch with a kunai in her hand for about thirty minutes, certain that Kiba would come pounding on her door and demanding answers, but when those thirty minutes went by and nothing seemed forthcoming, she finally let herself relax.

Sighing, the tension left her shoulders as she walked to her bathroom. All she wanted was a shower and a nice meal with plenty of hot sauce and a battery acid drink. Then maybe she'd be able to sleep for once and go over those files with a clear head.

Sakura gasped. _The files!_

In all her excitement and worry she had forgotten about the files! Anticipation made her skin tingle and her fingers twitch, but the rational side of her said that she'd be able to go over the files tomorrow and compare her research to what Kabuto's notes said.

The stubborn part of her, the one that was solely Inner Sakura but not really because Inner didn't exist anymore, whined that she didn't even _need_ to sleep so she could just do everything _right now!_

Her mind said _yes_ , but her body odor said _no._

That was one thing Sakura wished would have changed: the fact that she still smelled after a while. Was it illogical to wish that a girl could smell like daisies all the time?

Pouting, Sakura started stripping on her way to her bathroom (while griping about getting changed for nothing since she came _straight home_ ) and the hot water felt amazing once it touched her tensed muscles.

After the shower, she paused in front of the mirror and contemplated her reflection in a purely aesthetic fashion. Her eyes were too large for her face, her nose small and pert, her skin _way too pale_ for a normal human being, and her lips were pouty and, without lip stain, also pale. Her breasts were supple like her hips (and yes she'd heard that rumor about her being flat-chested, which was a load of _bull_ because guys always conveniently forget the existence of chest bindings), and her legs long and lean.

She had a phenomenal ass and a great personality, and it pissed Ino-pig off to no end to know that she was single.

Which, from a purely logical standpoint, would not be in her best course of interests right now. But she had to admit that life got pretty lonely sometimes. All of her friends had either gotten married and were starting their own families while she was stuck in limbo.

Not only did it sting, it _chafed_.

But it motivated her to keep on her pursuit for a cure. The information was out there somewhere—she just needed to get her pale hands on them.

Dressing quickly in one of Kakashi's old shirts and fuzzy socks, Sakura cursed sleep to Hell and headed to the kitchen where she heated up some instant noodles, tossed in some brain matter, and topped it all off with a liberal dose of hot sauce before taking a bite.

Balancing her bowl and pre-made drink that she grabbed from the fridge in one hand as she walked to her office, Sakura reached behind her and swiped the hot sauce off the counter as an afterthought.

You could never have too much damn hot sauce.

Settling everything down on her desk and hissing when some broth spilled over the rim onto some patient case files, the petite woman wiped it with a stray napkin before rushing over to her discarded hip pouch and grabbing the scrolls within it.

In true Sakura fashion—well, the new Sakura, not the old one—she had forgotten which one contained her files. Two empty scrolls and a heap of dirty underwear later, Sakura found the scroll she was looking for.

Triumphant, she laid all the files and paperwork before her, careful to avoid bumping into her noodles. As she slurped on something she once would have gagged at the thought of, she flipped through pages and pages of data.

Within twenty minutes, she was ready to pull her hair out and go on a man-hunt.

The files contained _nothing._

She was right; there was a reason why Kabuto left all of this crap behind and it was because it was all a load of outdated _bullshit._

Most of the files talked about the necrotizing agent in Orochimaru's arms—which, admittedly, was an interesting read—and the rest were files on the effects of starvation, dehydration, and hypothermia on those with the Cursed Seal of Heaven.

The Cursed Seal of Heaven from ten years ago. _Sasuke's_ Cursed Seal.

Something in her broke a little at reading the collected data. Though she wasn't sure if the mentioned test subject was Sasuke himself, the thought that it could have been still made her heart ache. After all, Sasuke would have subjected himself to _anything_ for even a small ounce of power back then.

Even the loose sheets of paper had nothing of value to her.

A few of them had the names of the civilians Kabuto and Orochimaru (would it make her unprofessional to refer to the two of them as Satan's Ballsack? She didn't think so) had taken as test subjects for different types of poisons. Most of them were materials lists for some type of chemical agent or maybe even poison, but just to be safe, Sakura kept them separate from the rest.

They didn't mention Hashirama or Zetsu, but she wouldn't put it past Kabuto to give them some type of codename to deflect any spies he might have had.

Defeat was already settling wearily into her bones and she ran a tired hand down her face. Another dead end, another wasted trip in a place she didn't even have to go to. Was this what her life was becoming? A series of dead ends and trips that lead to nowhere?

There was one more sheet of paper left—the ripped one—and Sakura reached towards it with the type of resignation people felt when they knew they were playing to lose.

Holding it close to her face, Sakura blinked blearily at the characters until they started to make sense, and when they did she just about peed.

It was data on the virus.

Or how Kabuto liked to call it: The Serum.

Licking suddenly dry lips, Sakura straightened and hastily grabbed her journal to jot down notes, her eyes scanning each ounce of information and research written on this one slip of salvation.

Kabuto hadn't written much, only observation of the changes brought by administering the pathogen by blood. In his studies, he noted that the serum couldn't be transferred by contact nor through being in the immediate area and seemed to be transmittable only through contact with the host's body fluids.

That made sense; most bloodborne pathogens were only transmittable that way. Other ways too—like sexual secretions and what not. But this was much worse than the AIDS virus; the AIDS virus didn't make you want to go murder a whole village.

Besides, AIDS was curable in the wake of innovative medical ninjutsu. This was not.

The physical description of his test subject matched that of her own until they veered off into the grotesque: cells growing and multiplying rapidly to form highly contagious tumors with the tendency to burst and transmit noxious gas, and the loss of cognitive reasoning and self-control.

Basically, in layman's terms, they turned into bonafide movie zombies—but uglier and a whole lot more dangerous.

But this was only one case, she didn't have the files for the rest—if there were even more out there.

It stumped her, though. If this was the same virus Kabuto had infected her with, why hadn't all of this happened to her? What, besides her Byakugou Seal, made her so special?

Her eyes scanned the page hungrily, searching for something she must have missed until they landed on a little post note at the bottom of the page.

* * *

 _After the failure of our sole recipient of the Test 3-Serum, Orochimaru-sama ordered I focus on the Basic-2 and the CS-2 serums as they were the two that showed most promise. It was disappointing that our most innovative and pioneering serum had been unsuccessful, for I had promised that it would have and he was most displeased._

 _However, the B2 and CS-2 serums are proving to be a success with few mishaps. These grotesque features caused by the CS2-Serum are nonconsequential when taking into consideration the strength and power manifesting in the subject. I am hesitant to annotate such developments on paper, but without a trigger, recipients of the CS2-Serum are more spectacular than I could have ever hoped for._

 _B2 recipients are more likely to attack without warning and die quickly with little effort. Even if they are not meant to last, they are merely a means to an end._

 _I personally believe that the CS-2 serum will be the culmination of our hard work._

 _The day they are perfected will be a joyous one, indeed._

* * *

Sakura sat back with wide eyes and a breathy whisper of _"fuck"_ falling from her lips.

Then she repeated it three more times with conviction because _fuck._

Kabuto had more variations of the virus, more unique formulations and chemical makeups than her own, and if she was sure of anything, it was that these two—the B2 and CS2 viruses—were even more dangerous than she could imagine.

She also had a feeling that the mention of the sole recipient of the Test 3-Virus was in reference to herself, and while it felt nice to finally have a name to what was coursing through her veins and altering her DNA, it also made her worry that he'd thrown out the data to her case.

She personally never kept failed data unless told to; and it seemed that Kabuto nor Orochimaru had plans to try the T3-Virus again.

Glancing at the post note again, her eyes narrowed at the names of Kabuto's new viruses. What could he mean by _Basic_ and _CS?_ She was intelligent enough to know that _Test_ meant her own virus had been just that: a test.

Leaning her elbows onto the desk and cradling her head in her palms, Sakura thought long and hard about _anything_ Kabuto could have said to her to give her an idea of what his sneaky squirrel brain could have meant by that.

He had spoken of White Zetsu's and Hashirama's cells in combination to her Byakugou seal, and then the newly developed Cursed Seal...and Sakura nearly slapped herself in realization.

The three components to her virus were White Zetsu cells, Hashirama's cells, and the chakra contained and controlled in her Byakugou seal. Therefore, she could logically infer (or rather, guess, because there were only two people on this god given Earth that could manifest the Yin seal) that the two components to the basic virus were White Zetsu cells and Hashirama cells; and CS could only stand for _Cursed Seal_ in combination with WZ and H cells.

Sakura's nostrils flared. "Well, shit."

Kabuto and Orochimaru, as per their modus operandi, were out making monsters again.

If she was right, it was the White Zetsu cells that made her want to eat people and Hashirama's cells were the ones that induced cellular growth. Without anything to balance them out, they were simply ugly, toxic, and incredibly dangerous cannibals.

An awful, cavernous pit formed deep, deep in her belly and heart as she thought of how many test subjects there were. How many were successful...how many weren't?

Suddenly, that low moan in Birds Country didn't seem like a ghost…

Focusing on the page's header, she tried to make out identifying details—numbers, names, anything—but found that the characters were cut off.

Glad that she had the foresight to also grab the torn piece of paper rather than leave it behind, Sakura hastily searched for it but quickly became frustrated when she couldn't find it among her clutter.

Growling and very close to sweeping everything off her desk, she spotted a piece of paper under her untouched cup and she gingerly picked it up. Her lips tightened into a white line at how drenched in moisture the paper was, but there was nothing she could do that didn't require patience so she fitted it to where it had been torn from.

Her mouth felt like cotton had taken residence and absorbed the moisture right out of her as her vision tunneled on the digits written innocently on the missing piece of paper as if they didn't just make her life ten times harder.

As if they didn't just drape a big sack of weights over her shoulders and tell her she was on her own.

That number just changed everything; because now it wasn't just about her anymore, it was about the future of the rest of the world—her loved ones' futures.

Because somewhere out there, Kabuto and Orochimaru were playing God and creating monsters.

Because this sheet was part of a CS2 case numbered #83 and was dated seven months ago.

Gods help her.

 **.**

 **.**

 _tbc_

* * *

 ** _Please review and tell me what you guys think!_**


	6. You Did This To Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 _ **A/N:** Thanks for all of your reviews guys! I really appreciate them! _

**Song Inspo:** _ **The Last of Us Theme by Gustavo Santaolalla**_

 **.**

 **.**

 **FIVE**

 _"Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?"_

 _Mary Shelley_

 **.**

 **.**

* * *

A week had gone by since the discovery of case file CS2 #83 and Sakura was so stressed that her own body was starting to react to it. She was just a mean and angry person with no way to direct her anger without destroying the village and it turned out that Ino had had enough.

"Okay, Forehead, listen," Ino stomped into her office, words falling from her lips even before she crossed the threshold, "I don't know what's got your panties in a twist, but I'm tired of you."

Sakura's nostrils flared as her hands clenched into fists and she forcibly reminded herself that good people don't punch pregnant women.

"Ino, I am _not_ in the mood for this right now." She gritted out from between clenched teeth.

Even still, she braced herself for an infamous Yamanaka Ino nagging session as said woman's lips pursed stubbornly.

"I don't care," she retorted, hands on her hips. "I don't care so much that I'm coming over tonight and making you my famous tempura and you're gonna stop being a bitch and _like it."_

Sakura instantly deflated at Ino's gruff words. Her dear friend only cared for her, and if she had to insult her way into Sakura's heart in the same manner her husband had, then that was how it was going to be.

Besides, it worked.

Chewing her bottom lip before her lips twitched into a smile, Sakura asked shyly, "Tempura?"

Ino smiled and echoed with a nod, "Tempura."

Both women smiled at each other for a moment before Ino huffed. "Now give me your keys. I'll be there when you get home with food on the table. You get off at seven, right?"

Nodding as she dug in her lab coat pockets for her keys before handing them to Ino, Sakura looked at the time and cursed.

"Sorry, Pig!" She cried as she hastily started gathering charts and patient files. "I'm late to a meeting!"

Rolling her eyes, Ino slipped Sakura's keys into her wristlet. "Go on, then! And that bitch attitude of yours better be gone by dinner time—you got that, Forehead?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Sakura said, eyes twinkling as she briskly walked out of the room with the blonde's giggles trailing behind her.

The small smile stayed on Sakura's lips for the rest of her shift, the thought of Ino's _amazing_ tempura dancing in her head. Even when the Head Nurse made snarky remarks about her appearance and apparent poor self-care, she had just smiled and nodded because she had _tempura_ waiting.

Tempura made with _love._

It wasn't even the fact that she had one of her favorite greasy meals imminent that had her in such a better mood than she had woken up in, it was the fact that her best friend loved her enough to barge into her office (well, slowly waddle in, actually) and force herself into her life. Little things like that _meant_ something to her, now.

Because the Head Nurse's words had a bit of truth to them: Sakura _had_ been neglecting herself for the last week. Stress had a way of doing that to a person—in fact, Sakura hadn't really slept in over two weeks.

Though she didn't really need to sleep, she liked to because it was a way to rest her mind—to stop thinking about Kabuto's and Orochimaru's bullshit antics.

Without sleep, that was all she could think about. Thus, the roots of her stress and anxiety.

Walking through the hospital doors to the village outside, Sakura breathed in the cool summer night's air. The sun was just dipping over the horizon and if she looked, she was sure she'd be able to see some merry stars barely twinkling overhead.

She took her time heading back to her apartment, deciding to give Ino some extra time to make everything look pretty, and some villagers and shinobi called their greetings. When she had been a Genin, she'd never thought that she'd make such an impact in people's lives; but there, eating a popsicle on a bench, was a boy she'd saved from pneumonia a year ago. Across the street was an old woman whose fractured hip she had fixed after a nasty fall last winter, and on the rooftops was a chakra signature she'd saved from septic shock during the war.

There was so much _life_ around her, and she'd be _damned_ if she let those two bastards take that away from her.

Climbing the steps to her apartment door, Sakura noted that all her traps had been disabled; which wasn't really a cause for worry considering Ino had probably been the one to do so as per usual. Grabbing her mail and rifling through it (which was weird because Ino liked going through her personal stuff), Sakura unlocked her door with a spare key and nudged it aside with her shoulder.

"Ugh," Sakura projected her voice so that her friend, who she could hear bustling about in the kitchen, would hear, "Every single time I go on a mission, Maki-san _always_ sends me an eviction notice!"

Turning the corner to the kitchen, Sakura mumbled, "I swear, it's like she can't wait for me to die or some— _Ino!"_

For one heart stopping moment, Sakura had felt the Earth disappear from beneath her feet. Icy fear clawed from her chest to her throat at the sight of her heavily pregnant friend collapsed on her side at the foot of her dishwasher. There was a nasty gash at her temple, bleeding liberally and staining her beautiful platinum blonde hair red, and Sakura prayed to every God who would listen for Ino and Inojin's life.

She made a move towards her when she narrowly avoided a kunai to the foot and she whipped angry sea glass eyes to glare at the intruder who dared do this. Anger turned to shock and then horror as the shinobi she had killed in Birds country gave her a toothy grin.

She tried to reason how a man whose throat she had slit was standing at her stove sautéing peppers—how the only indication of said death was a horrendous scar from ear to ear like a gruesome smile.

It made her sick to already know the answer.

"Hello, again."

Swallowing uneasily and falling into a defensive crouch, Sakura hissed, "What did you do to her?"

The shinobi grunted derisively before going back to his damned peppers. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. She's still alive."

A wave of relief so profound nearly made her knees weak, but she held her ground because Ino was still in danger. Everything in her demanded she go to Ino's side to tend to her, but an ancient instinct in her kept her from doing so. This man was dangerous in a way she was loathed to acknowledge—a product of her own creation—and she _knew_ he was the predator to Ino's prey.

He'd had the element of surprise and therefore the higher ground. She had to tread carefully.

If there wasn't so much at stake, Sakura was sure she could have killed him in as little as two seconds. But his foot was too close to Ino's head and she knew that it would _only_ take two seconds for it to come down on it. Not for the first time, Sakura cursed herself for not perfecting the shunshin—those two seconds were two seconds too long.

The soft daytime lights of her kitchen were a stark contrast to the pervading darkness of nightfall from when she had seen him last (four whole weeks ago), giving her the misfortune of seeing the shinobi's features in full.

He might have been handsome once, but the scars from what she had done to him marred his features into something absolutely awful. She had done horrible things to him for the sake of acquiring information. The scar on his hairline from where she had slowly scalped him was a reminder of what had made him break, and she, for a fleeting moment, felt utterly disgusted with herself.

"Admiring your handiwork?"

Silence met his scornful question and he tutted at her like a disappointed parent. Her eyes wandered to the snow white hair on his head and dread settled deep in her belly. Sakura knew, without even having to check, that this man didn't have a heartbeat. In fact, he probably didn't even know how to keep cycling chakra and blood through his pathways and veins to keep his body from decaying; she could see splotches of where livor mortis had set and his movements were stiff enough to indicate bouts of rigor.

She knew without a doubt that she had turned him. She didn't even have to ask herself how; she could remember how the idiot had licked her blood from his blade.

The question was: "Why are you here?"

At the sound of her voice, the shinobi turned around with a wooden spoon in hand to look at her with such loathing that it took her aback. No one had _ever_ looked at her that way—not even enemy shinobi.

There was an unspoken understanding on the battlefield—unless two ninjas had a personal vendetta against each other—that whatever happened between enemy combatants wasn't personal, simply business. Normal shinobi didn't enjoy taking lives, it was just their job.

So while she has had enemy shinobi stare her down with anger or some type of emotion to fuel their killing intent, she had never encountered one who truly, _truly_ loathed her.

Well, she supposed there was a first for everything.

"Why am I here…" He repeated slowly, almost as if each word was a curse against him, before laughing as if he'd heard some grand joke. " _Why am I here,_ she asks."

Turning back to the slowly overcooking peppers with another dry chuckle, the Oto nin gave the pan a shake, the sizzling oil filling the tension filled silence.

Sakura had absolutely no clue what was currently happening, but she edged towards Ino's frighteningly still form with her once still heart pounding hard in her chest. She stilled when the foreign nin turned his head to look at her through crazed, half-lidded eyes.

"Haven't you ever wanted to meet your maker?" He asked blithely, his body turning fully towards her.

"I already have." Sakura answered curtly, her hand inching towards the hidden kunai behind a picture frame a few inches beside her left hip.

His lips twitched, whether to pull into a frown or a smirk, she didn't know. "I guess I have, too."

A moment of silence and the Oto nin turned around to shut off the stove, the smell of burning peppers becoming strong enough to probably stick to her clothing.

"I was never much of a cook," he began conversationally, and Sakura was so, _so_ very confused at the change of focus. "My wife Makoto used to say that I could find a way to burn water."

He laughed hollowly, the sound more of a breathy sob than an actual laugh, as he grabbed a dish rag to wipe his hands. "And my kids! My kids would _beg_ me to order take-out because daddy's cooking was just _so_ terrible. They used to be so dramatic!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed at the useless information, but she had to keep him distracted long enough to reach Ino and body-flicker out of there.

So, she warily asked, "Used to?"

For a moment, the Oto nin looked lost and broken before composing himself. His lips pulled into a tight line, even as they trembled.

"Four weeks ago," He started, his voice thick with emotion, "I woke up with a mangled body in the middle of Birds country next to the rotting corpses of my team. I was confused at first, but then so very grateful because the gods had heard my prayers. I was alive. I would be able to see my family again."

Sakura's throat tightened. Shit, she was such a sucker for sob stories.

"I left my team where they were because we aren't sappy like you tree hugging Leaf-nin. Oto only has room for the living, so I went home to my wife who had been waiting for me to return to her like she knew I would.

"My kids weren't home, they were with their grandmother in Snow country for the month; and my wife, my beautiful wife, who still loved me despite what _you_ had done to me, said she'd cook me a meal."

Sakura was silent throughout his entire spiel, too busy steeling herself against the rising guilt and horror at what she knew he had done. It wasn't her fault, she knew it wasn't, but it was still horrifying to hear all the same.

"So she starts making my favorite while telling me about what new things our youngest had learned while I was gone, and my _silly_ , _clumsy_ wife—"

The Oto nin paused to compose himself, continuing even though it seemed like the words physically pained him, "Makoto cuts herself with the stupid knife and asks me to bandage it up for her. 'I'm just no good at the first-aid stuff, Tenshin-kun,' she says, so I grab her hand and I'm there, with the bandage…and there's just…so much _blood—"_

"Listen," Sakura interrupted, the direction his story was heading already making her feel sick, "You don't have to tell—"

She abruptly cut herself off when Tenshin pressed the toe of his boot onto the delicate skin of Ino's neck.

"You are going to _listen_ ," The Oto nin said slowly, brokenly. "You are going to listen to what you have done."

Swallowing, Sakura didn't dare move her eyes from where the tip of his boot rested ominously over Ino's trachea.

There were fat tears spilling down Tenshin's scarred cheeks, his expression horrified and stricken with self-loathing and Sakura kept her eyes on the growing pool beneath Ino's head so that she wouldn't bear witness to such agony.

Hokages knew she'd seen enough of it in the mirror.

"Makoto looks at me with her big, brown eyes," he continued thickly, "And she asks me what's wrong…and I'm just… _so hungry—"_

Tenshin cut himself off and Sakura glanced briefly enough to see the pain written in his face. His eyes rolled heavenwards, brows furrowing, and she quickly reached behind the picture frame to palm the kunai. It was all she had time for, if she had been a fraction of second faster, she could have thrown it.

"I couldn't help myself," he said, head shaking. "I couldn't control it and _Gods_ I can still hear her fucking _screams_."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him through a moment of sharp clarity. What he said didn't make sense. Not to her, at least. Sure, when she had first awoken she had torn into the first human being she could find (something that honestly still gave her nightmares) so she could sympathize in that respect. But that had given her back her self-awareness—was the _only_ thing that brought her back long enough to be found by her comrades.

So, if he had had enough sense to find his way home, then he _must_ have consumed some type of human flesh before going back to his family. If she bothered to give voice to thought, he might have tried to argue that he hadn't—that perhaps he was different than her and turned with all mental awareness intact—but Sakura knew that he was borne from the pathogens of her virus and they _were exactly the same._

And Sakura has _never_ lost her mind at the sight and smell of her comrades' or patients' blood.

That's why, when her lips pulled back into a sneer, she felt no remorse as she said, "That's funny. I've never eaten anyone I didn't want to eat."

 _"_ _I loved her!"_ Tenshin roared, his foot coming off Ino as he took a step towards Sakura. " _You did this to me!"_

Seeing the opportunity, Sakura quickly launched the kunai at his head and cursed when he dodged to the left to avoid. He crashed into her kitchen island and the shock of pain must have triggered something visceral because he began to _turn_.

The sensation of turning was entirely different to bearing witness to it. For the first time in her life, Sakura realized how terrifying and ghoulish she must look to those who saw her in that state. It made her pause, giving Tenshin enough time to lunge at her with an animalistic snarl.

His larger body tackled her to the ground and with a gasp, Sakura felt the floorboards beneath her cave in from the force of it. His fist came down towards her face and she narrowly avoided it, her eyes widening as it went through the floor.

So it seemed that she wasn't the only one with enhanced strength when under the thrall of zombie-dom.

She saw an opening when he reared back to strike her again and she bucked him off her, lifting him bodily and swinging him into the living room. She had to get him as far away from Ino!

Following after him, Sakura tensed a second too late as he came up from behind her and couldn't avoid the kunai to the heart. She felt it when the cool blade pierced the muscle and it was a small comfort to know that she would not die from it.

The fact that the virus responded to the attack, was not.

.

.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Naruto was about one second away from dozing off to Sasuke's oral mission report. The man spoke in such a crisp monotone it reminded him of metronomes and could probably put _anyone_ to sleep. Sun dazzling blonde head resting in his palm, Naruto resisted the pull of his heavy eyelids and wished his famed energy hadn't drained away when he'd made his dreams a reality.

If he'd known how boring it was to be the Hokage, he would have swallowed that ambition and gone for something cool like ANBU commander. Or maybe even Jonin Commander! At least those guys still went on missions. The poor blonde hadn't seen the field since his inauguration almost 2 years ago.

He could feel the "dad-bod" setting in and Boruto wasn't due for another two months! Oh, woe is he! Instead of the callouses born from endless kunai throwing, his hands were full of ink stains and paper cuts and _god_ if he didn't feel like he'd developed an unnatural dependency on coffee and caffeine.

He was getting _soft_ and if Sasuke—or Gods forbid, Gaara—got word of how Hinata made him moisturize his hands every night before he touched her, he'd never hear the end of it. He drew the line at pedicures, which was something it seemed all of the kunoichi in his age group were adamant he have done.

Naruto casted a surreptitious glance to the heels of his feet and wrinkled his nose at their cracked state. Okay, so, maybe he _could_ benefit from a pedicure. He could probably spark a fire if he rubbed his heels together and, suddenly, all those random gifts of pumice stones made sense.

His wife had apparently made an art out of being passive-aggressive.

"—sama. Naruto! _Dobe!"_

Jolted out of his thoughts, Naruto narrowed his eyes at his best friend and waggled his finger at him, "I'm the Hokage now, bastard, so, _technically,_ you can't call me that anymore."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but a small smirk pulled at his lips, which was something in and of itself considering the Sasuke of a year ago would only smile in the face of someone's unending misery.

It seemed that working on accomplishing his second ambition of repopulating his clan had him in higher spirits.

All this time, all that hatred and pain and anger, and all the bastard had needed to do was get laid.

Unbelievable.

"You weren't listening to a word I said, were you?" Sasuke asked drily as he placed his one hand on his hip.

"Yeah, I was!" _I was most definitely not._

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion and Naruto's narrowed in return. This was the best part of being Sasuke's friend: the challenge in everything. Naruto lived for that kind of stuff, and were he as exuberant as Gai-sensei, he'd probably declare himself and the Uchiha the second coming of the Eternal Rivals.

But alas, Naruto was still in possession of all his marbles and Sasuke had the Rinnegan now. That moniker would have to be passed down to their kids, or something.

"If that's the case," he drawled, "what is the status of Iwagakure's movements at the Northern border?"

Just as Naruto was about to reply that he was the Hokage and didn't have to answer such trivia, one of his ANBU stationed at the eastern corner of the room gasped sharply and stumbled. He knew it was Sai behind the bird mask, and he stood carefully from his seat.

"Bird?" He asked slowly and blinked in surprise when Sai violently pulled off his mask to reveal the most emotion Naruto had seen on his pale face since his nuptials to Ino.

Sai looked positively panicked as he gasped out, "It's Ino. She's in trouble."

Everyone in the room—meaning Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata—snapped to attention at that. It was no secret that the Yamanaka clan head was heavily pregnant and therefore confined behind village walls for the duration of her maternity leave. They were in a time of peace and while there were small instances of internal crime, Naruto couldn't think of anything that would warrant this type of reaction from his friend.

"Is she in labor?" Hinata asked sharply, concern furrowing her brow.

"No," Sai said as he hastily made his way to the window, "I'll explain on the way but we have to go _now."_

Wasting no time, Naruto and the others followed Sai as he vaulted out the opened window in the opposite direction of where he knew their home to be. Brow furrowing in confusion, his eyes scanned the streets from their vantage point of traveling by roof top. He was close to voicing said confusion when he soon recognized a small tea house that he and Sakura used to visit as teens. His heart pounded in his chest when he realized that they were heading in the direction of his female teammate's home.

It saddened him that he was unaware of the fact that she still lived in the old complex, that he hadn't thought to ask or visit. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd dropped by her home for dinner or just to say hello.

Intellectually, he knew that it was perfectly normal for Genin to lose touch with one another after reaching a certain rank or adulthood—whichever came first. But they were _Team 7_ —they were _forever_. After all they've been through—all the pain and loss and prophecies fulfilled—it was almost crazy to believe that Team 7 would become one of those teams that only spoke to each other in passing.

And yet, here they were.

He only spoke to Sakura when she came in for a brief or a mission, and even then, it was stunted with words they didn't say that hung in the air between them. Something happened with Orochimaru that went beyond simple torture—though torture wasn't simple by any means—that changed her so irrevocably that Naruto sometimes felt like he was looking into the eyes of a stranger.

Then there was the matter of her sudden falling out with their other teammate, Sasuke, who he'd thought to be the love of her life. But Sasuke had confided in him that she had pulled away from him, never to be heard from again, and it baffled him to no end.

If there was one thing that was a constant in Team 7, it was Sakura's deep-seated love for Sasuke.

So, to hear that _she_ had pulled away from _him_ was akin to hearing that Ichiraku's had closed down for good. It was unfeasible, unbelievable, so damn earth shattering that it just could _not be true._

And yet, here they were, nearly nine months later and Sasuke had his own family on the way with someone who was _not_ Sakura.

And she—he didn't even know where to begin with her.

"Ino is at Sakura's apartment."

Sai's worried voice broke Naruto out of his thoughts centered around Team 7 and a wave of guilt came crashing down on his shoulders. How selfish was he that he could only think of the dynamics of his team when Ino's life was in danger?

"How far away are we?" Sasuke asked, eyes blazing at the threat of danger.

"We'll be there in four minutes," Sai replied, voice tense, and he went on to answer the unspoken question, "She and I both have seals on our ring fingers that react when one of us is in mortal danger. One of her clansmen did it for us on our wedding day, and it has never reacted until now. Not even when she was injured on missions…"

The answering silence was grim. If what Sai said was true, then it meant that Ino's life was hanging in the balance and all four of them sped up in response. Naruto glanced at the rigid lines of Sai's back and were he anyone else, he might have dismissed the ease in which he spoke as apathy. But Naruto knew Sai as well as he knew Kakashi or Yamato, and he knew that he was well and truly afraid; the only way Sai knew how to deal with such emotions was by falling back on deeply embedded ROOT training.

It suddenly made him angry that someone was able to come into _his_ village and attack his friends when he had sworn to protect them. A growl rumbled deep in his chest and his wife casted him a sharp look from where she traveled beside him.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said sharply, brow furrowing in concern. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Sai suddenly dropped from the rooftops to land in front of Sakura's apartment.

From the outside, all seemed well, until a large crash and a pulse of such vitriolic and caustic chakra made Kurama stir from within him in interest. Naruto heard Sasuke inhale sharply in response and both men glanced at each other in alarm.

Though it had been a while since they had felt such corrosive and venomous chakra, they were both instantly transported to The Forest of Death and then the Valley of The End.

They knew that chakra, and if the way Sasuke's Sharingan was spinning wildly was anything to go by, he more intimately than others.

It swept over them like oil, heavy and disgusting with an aftertaste that was solely Orochimaru. But—Naruto realized with dawning horror and mounting rage—coiled within it so finely was Sakura's own chakra that it made him sick.

This was the Cursed Seal reborn.

Another pulse, but this time the chakra that was laced within Orochimaru's was unfamiliar and inarguably dangerous.

Sai rushed towards the door, kunai already drawn with both Naruto and Sasuke at his heels, and what happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion:

Sai kicked open the front door with enough force to splinter the wood as Naruto and Sasuke followed through with kunai and chokuto drawn respectively. Their eyes sought Ino first, who was slowly rising from her collapsed position by the kitchen on shaky limbs, staring in wide-eyed terror at something that was just beyond their sight.

Her husband moved to flash-step towards her and that's when two figures crashed through the wall that divided the kitchen and the living room, plaster crumbling beneath their tumbling forms as inhuman snarls rang through the air.

While Naruto normally would have jumped in to end whatever it was that was happening in Sakura's living room (and just _where was she?)_ he had other lives to think about—namely that of his heavily pregnant wife (who he should have ordered to stay behind, but Hinata was unerringly stubborn when she wanted to be) and a heavily pregnant Ino.

So they had to hang back and assess—wait for an opening. The two figures clawed and tore at each other viciously, moving so quickly that it was hard to discern their features besides the paleness of their hair and skin. Their chakra coated the air in the small space heavily, feeling so _wrong_ and repulsive that even Kurama bared his teeth at the filth of it.

Naruto's patience had worn thin when suddenly, it seemed that the larger of the two figures found an opening, grabbing the smaller one by the shoulders to quickly sink their teeth into the juncture of the other's neck and shoulder to rip out a large chunk of flesh.

And in that moment, as an inhuman shriek of pain and rage pierced the air, Naruto's heart stuttered in his chest. His ears rang, his palms became clammy as that one small still moment allowed him to glimpse their features in full.

Even with eyes, skin, and hair the _wrong_ color, Naruto would know Sakura anywhere.

And that—that _thing_ was _Sakura_.

.

.

 _tbc_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** What do you guys think? What was your fave part? Thanks for reading! _


	7. Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

 ** _A/N:_** _Mentions of NaruSakuSasu in this chapter. Very emotionally heavy, but essential! Thanks sooo much for all of your reviews! I hope you enjoy this speedy update! See ending notes for some of my thoughts!_

 **Song Inspo: _Have You Ever Seen The Rain_ by Creedence Clearwater Revival**

 **.**

 **.**

 **SIX**

* * *

"Someone told me long ago

There's a calm before the storm, I know

It's been coming for some time.

When it's over, so they say

It'll rain a sunny day, I know

Shining down like water."

* * *

.

.

Frozen in horror, Naruto and the others—who he was sure had seen what he had—could only watch as Sakura, heedless of the way blood poured sluggishly from a wound that should have killed her instantly, quickly reached up to grab the other man's head with both hands and _squeezed._

They were ninja, but even they flinched when his head exploded in a mess of blood and gore. It spattered her face, her hands, the walls behind her.

Someone shifted their stance, and when that thing who was _Sakura_ spun on them to glare at them with unnaturally bloodshot eyes, Naruto couldn't help but step back in a moment of unrestrained fear.

Killing intent leaked from her very being so heavily it raised every fine hair on their bodies in an instinctual reaction to a predator, and he shifted to cover Hinata with his body when he heard her whimper.

It wasn't Sakura who stood in front of them, but a monster of Orochimaru's creation.

Once brilliant green eyes were sunken into skin bruised so deeply it looked black in their sockets, and the sclera of them was as red as blood. Her chest heaved with each rapid breath, dark veins contrasting and rising from her skin like horrific scars.

It was only then that he noticed the hilt of a kunai embedded deeply into her chest where her heart should be and Naruto knew as well as he knew the taste of his own fear that she should be dead.

She took a step towards them with a low growl and they all tensed in preparation for an attack.

"Sa-Sakura?"

Ino's voice must have cut through whatever haze Sakura seemed to be in because, before their very eyes, she blinked and color seemed to surge back into where it had left her.

She stumbled, gasping as if coming from underwater, as her hair bled into pink—albeit much paler than before—her skin becoming alabaster and flawless once more, and the film lifting from her eyes.

Eyes that zeroed in on Ino quickly, making Sai hiss and tense from his defensive crouch next to Naruto. Ino leaned against the counter heavily, blood trickling from her head wound freely as she stared at the other woman. She was shaking.

"Ino!" She gasped, taking a step forward and almost tripping over the headless corpse of whoever that man had been. "Are you ok?! I—"

It was then that she noticed them, and she turned towards them slowly, and whatever color that had been in her face quickly drained.

Naruto didn't dare take his eyes off her as the tension in the air became stifling.

"W-what are you?" Ino asked shakily, voice thick with fear and uncertainty, in an ironic echo of what she had once said to the other girl nearly 10 years before.

"I'm—"

"You're barely bleeding and you have a kunai through your chest," Ino's lips trembled as she spoke, "How are you not dead?"

Sakura glanced down at her chest in surprise, as if previously unaware of the hilt of the kunai buried in her heart. She grasped at the hilt and yanked, startling at Sasuke's cry of ' _Don't!'_

Dropping the kunai to the floor, the clunk it made unbearably loud in the heavy silence of the room, she made to walk towards them and they dropped lower in their stances in reaction—the men raising their blades higher and Hinata dropping into the Gentle Fist.

Sakura paused, looking stricken, and while Naruto was very much confused and slightly afraid, it hurt to see that expression on her face. Viridian eyes met his own and whatever she saw there made her face crumble.

He was wary and distrustful of her, if only for his family's sake. It hurt.

"Guys," she said in a small voice, though dense with conviction, "I'm not going to hurt you—I would _never_ hurt _any_ of you."

Then she turned her eyes to him, begging him without words to believe her when she said: "I _love_ Konoha. I would never do anything to hurt this village."

Up until that moment, they had been suspended in fear and shock, and it was by Sasuke's cold manner of brushing off his own discomfort that they were able to collect their professionalism and steel as shinobi to face the unknown.

"Explain." The Uchiha's voice was sharp enough to make Sakura flinch, and Naruto bit back a reprimand. Now wasn't the time to revert back to Sakura's Number One Fan. He was the Hokage.

Naruto stepped forward, all eyes turning to him as he drew himself up to his full height. Calling for a few Kage Bunshin, he ordered them to slap silencing seals all around the apartment and it was the work of a few seconds to get them up.

And then he turned to Sakura, who still stared at Ino—who Sai had quickly rushed to—uncertainly.

"Explain."

Taking a deep breath as if drawing from a well of strength deep within her, Sakura opened her mouth and began to speak as if it physically pained her to do so.

"It all started 9 months ago." Sakura started in a small voice. "When I was captured by Kabuto. He turned me into this— _this thing_ and… _please,_ believe me when I say that I'm still _me_ but— _"_

She looked up at them with such heart wrenching fear and sorrow, tears brimming her eyes, before she squared her shoulders and blurted out the words that would tilt Naruto's—and everyone else's—world on its axis.

"I'm dead."

Hinata gasped from beside him and Ino whimpered from the protection of Sai's arms, but he was deaf to it all as his vision tunneled. All he could hear was the rush of his own blood as the pieces fell together to complete the mystery of what had plagued Sakura for the last 9 months.

It all made sense—the pale and cold skin, the lack of blood from her wounds, the way her body seemed to wither away before their very eyes—but how, _how_ was she standing before them if she was—if she was _dead?_

He must have spoken aloud because she continued on, words tumbling from her lips desperately.

"He injected me with a virus that killed me and then brought me back." Sakura said, making herself as non-threatening as possible by keeping her bloody palms open and facing towards them.

"And its side effects are—," she swallowed and her lips trembled, "Its side effects are what you just saw and—and the—"

Sakura's eyes rolled heavenward as her voice broke before she met Naruto's own blue eyes.

" _I'm_ the one who's been taking human organs from the morgue," She said and Naruto barely registered the shaking of his own head as his eyes widened in shock and horror because he knew, _he knew_ what she was going to say next but still he was not prepared when she did:

"Because that is what I need to eat to stay me."

His wife and Ino gagged while both Sasuke and Sai turned away in disgust. But Naruto, and only Naruto, had not taken his eyes off of Sakura—Sakura whose expression looked agonized as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She curled in on herself, looking not like the strong legend he knew she had become but more like the little girl she used to be. She clutched her hands to her chest, twisting the torn fabric that laid over her heart.

"And I've tried to end it," She sobbed, head shaking slowly. "I've _tried_ to do the honorable thing and finish what Orochimaru and Kabuto started, but I _can't_ — _I_ _can't die."_

"I've tried everything," she gasped, voice thick with tears, "But how can you kill something that's already dead?

"Orochimaru was trying to find the secret to immortality, but _this—_ having to eat _people_ to keep from turning into a _monster_ —isn't _worth_ it!" She cried, pulling at her hair.

Naruto felt sick. So very sick and horrified as everything he knew about the world came tumbling down.

Sakura was a zombie.

 _Sakura_ was a zombie.

 _Sakura_ was a _zombie!_

 _Everything_ made _fucking sense_ and it _killed_ him.

Sakura gestured towards the corpse on the ground. "And now, now I know that there's more of them out there, and he—I-I turned him. I infected him. He was like _me_."

Everyone took a step back in alarm, Hinata curling her arms around her belly protectively and Sasuke stepping in front of her.

"You're infectious?!" Sai asked, pushing Ino behind him.

"No!" Sakura cried, shaking her head. "I'm not! I'm careful!"

Simultaneously, everyone's eyes cut pointedly to the dead man on the floor and Sakura winced even as she said, "He did that to himself!"

Naruto didn't feel comforted by that statement, and he could tell that the others hadn't been either. He tried very hard not to judge her, for he had been feared and loathed at one point, too. But this, this was different. This was grotesque and terrible and the stuff of nightmares.

He didn't know what to do.

On the one hand, they were shinobi and they had seen horrible things before. They had heard of Zetsu and Hidan and were familiar with carnage. But this was too close to home and yet completely unfamiliar.

Edo Tensei mobilized the dead, but Naruto thought he would remember if Old Man Hokage and his father had a sudden desire to feast on human flesh.

He raked an agitated hand through his messy blonde hair. He needed to make a decision as the Hokage and not let his feelings for Sakura get in the way because, the fact of the matter was, Sakura was dangerous.

And not in the way shinobi and kunoichi endeavored to be. Sakura was dangerous in the way that demanded she be _put down._ Like a rabid dog.

And Naruto had no doubt in his mind that if the elders found out about this, they would try to do just that. She'd have every Hunter squad in the entirety of Fire Country trying to kill her.

He could not allow that to happen. Despite everything, she was still Sakura—she was still one of his precious people. And though they had lost touch, she was still one of his best friends.

She could not stay in Konoha, though he could not bear to see her go.

Team 7 had already been through so much; it really wasn't fair.

Turning to Ino and Sai, Naruto ordered them to go to the hospital to get her head wound looked at.

"I trust you know that what was said is not to leave this room." He said, blue eyes grave.

The couple nodded solemnly and Naruto trusted them. He knew they loved Sakura in their own way, he knew they were just as shaken as he. But they needed time. Sai looked at Sakura, at the way she trembled and silently cried, and averted his gaze in discomfort.

Ino casted one last mournful look over her shoulder at Sakura as Sai led her away, and Naruto noted the slight tremors in her hands. He would not be surprised if she had nightmares for the next few nights to come.

The door shut behind them solidly, leaving behind an echoing silence that crawled up his throat and made him light headed.

His eyes cut to Hinata with the intention of telling her to go home, but the steely resolve in the depths of her lavender gaze stayed his tongue. She thought Sakura was a threat to his safety, and that, _that_ really stung.

She must know that Sakura would never willingly hurt him, and he thought that Hinata and Sakura had been good friends. After all, Sakura was the one who had pushed him towards her.

He supposed that when one became a mother, their instincts in the face of danger was to protect their family. He could not begrudge her that.

To Sakura, who still stood before them in such blatant misery it tugged at him, he said, "Go clean yourself up, I'll seal up the corpse, and when you get back we'll discuss the next course of action."

Sakura nodded mutely, lips pulled tight into a thin line as she turned to make her way to her bathroom. Sasuke followed behind her silently, a looming presence that somehow made her seem frail and insignificant.

As soon as she was out of his sight, Naruto dropped into a crouch to cradle his head in the palms in his hands and let out a low, drawn out curse. Dragging a palm down his face and swiping his bandaged thumb over his lip in a rare anxious tell, he considered the corpse a few paces away.

He didn't want to touch it, but he didn't want to call the Biological HAZMAT unit either.

A warm palm landed on his shoulder and he started, having forgotten that Hinata was there.

"Naruto-kun," She said simply, "You must get rid of it."

He nodded. "I know. But I can't burn it, she might need it for research."

Hinata's fingers curled minutely into the fabric of his cloak before relaxing and she asked, "You believe she is conducting research?"

Naruto blinked up at her in surprise. "Of course. I know Sakura-chan. If it's a virus, I know she'd be searching for a cure."

His wife hummed, lashes lowering and lips puckering into a familiar expression that always lead to a statement she knew he'd disagree with. But she held her tongue and Naruto took the opportunity to stand and call upon two clones to seal up the body.

As they worked, hands covered in gloves they'd found in the kitchen, Naruto turned to Hinata.

"What were you going to say?"

Her lips thinned and she averted her gaze as she removed her hand from his person. "You know she can't stay in the village."

She said it so simply, so matter of fact as if it were already set in stone, that it took him completely aback. Hinata must have seen something in his face because she turned fully to him, something like pity in her eyes.

"You can't really be thinking of letting her stay," she said, as if talking to a child who brought home a stray puppy. "Sakura-san is my friend, but she's a danger to us all."

And he _knows_ that, but he doesn't want to believe it because deep down he wasn't going to make her leave, he really wasn't.

He didn't even have to search deep within himself to know what he was going to do next: he was going to hide her away and devote all his time and resources into helping her. He was going to drop everything for her.

Because while he'd do anything for his precious people, he'd move mountains for Sakura.

That was just what Naruto did.

And it was like something clicked; like it must have clicked for Sasuke when he followed Sakura to the bathroom, like it must have for Sai when he couldn't bear to see her cry.

Sakura had always had the men of Team 7 wrapped around her fingers—and she must have known it all along.

It felt like gears were grinding perfectly into place in his head as everything began to make sense, and for one inexplicable moment, Naruto wanted to cry.

Because Sakura always brought out the little boy in him who would lay down his life for her if only she'd ask. She'd always known what to say to get her way and a part of him resented her for it but could never _hate_ her, because that was just how she tried to protect her loved ones.

And he understood.

He was no stranger to love, especially not in the last decade, but this—this was different. This wasn't hunger or a craving for ramen, this wasn't some juvenile excuse to stop pursuing someone, this was self-sacrifice and manipulation and something embedded so deeply into his marrow he couldn't possibly ever be rid of it.

And it all dawned on him; it dawned on him that Sakura had subtly manipulated him into Hinata's arms to protect him from the pain of when she inevitably chose Sasuke. She pushed him towards someone who loved him unconditionally, who had and would always love him, and he was grateful.

Because he loved Hinata, he did. He truly loved her.

Hinata was his moon, she was his comfort and solace. She was his wife and the mother of his unborn child. She was lazy Sunday mornings under white sheets and perfectly made ramen without asking. Hinata made him feel capable, comfortable in his own skin and happy. She supported him, nurtured him, always believed in him even when he didn't deserve it. She held him as he cried and was patient with his quirks. He loved her; she was a part of him.

But Sakura—Sakura was different. She was his sun. She was the stars and earth beneath his feet—had always been the thing that grounded him. She was tightly held hands in the bunkers at the front lines of the war, lips whispering reassurances against his hair as she healed Kurama's burns, tears dripping from her eyes onto his face to mingle with his own. Sakura was shared pain and longing and hardship. She made him feel strong when expectations became too heavy, made him want to be better. He'd made promises to her that he knew he couldn't keep; had risked his life just to make her happy. All for her.

Sakura had been the one to teach him that love is selfish when being selfless, had been the one to hold his heart in her hand to keep him alive for 5 minutes and 43 seconds. For 5 minutes and 43 seconds, she had been his blood and the air he breathed—and the Earth could tilt and flatten and that would never change. He _loved_ her; she was everything.

He was going to let her stay.

And it's so _simple_ for him to look at Hinata and say, "But it's _Sakura-chan,"_ innocently. As if with just the inflection of her name he hadn't just told his wife he still loved another woman. As if the words that hung unspoken between them weren't strung together in poetry for someone who wasn't her.

Naruto watched the way his wife's eyes shuttered as she reared back from him, trembling hands curling into fists at her sides, and felt like the biggest scum of the earth. Deep down he knew that she always felt like she could not compete with his love for his teammates (and he wasn't sure anyone could compete with the way he and Sasuke loved Sakura, and each other) and this was not helping quell that festering insecurity.

Because he loved his wife, he loved his son, and he loved his village—but he was selfish. And sometimes love was selfish.

He reached out to her and she recoiled from his touch, eyes flinty and hard as she tossed her beautiful hair over her shoulder to look every bit the heiress of a proud and ancient clan Naruto knew she was.

"You are not a _boy,_ anymore," she said, scathingly and unfamiliar to him in a way that made his eyes widen. "You are the _Hokage_ and you are going to be a _father._ You _cannot_ keep placing your feelings for your teammates over the safety of the village _and your family."_

Naruto stared at her, lips parted a little and stricken.

"But she's my—"

 _"_ _I am your wife!"_

She didn't shout it, but the quiet fury in her voice had the same effect. Hinata's eyes narrowed at him, hands he knew as well as his own curled tightly at her sides, and her voice was colder than he'd ever known it could be when she whispered,

"Choose."

And then she turned away from him, spine pulled taut with dignity even as her pregnant belly prevented her from walking as smoothly as she probably would have liked. Naruto could only watch passively as the moon of his life slammed the door in his face, and a single tear slid down his cheek.

He had already made his choice, and she knew.

* * *

.

.

Sakura rushed towards the bathroom sink, all too aware of Sasuke following closely at her heels. Her skin itched with the desire to run away, like it was too small for her body, like she didn't fit.

She wanted this to be a horrible nightmare. She wanted to disappear. She wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to die.

Wrenching open the cabinets under the sink, she groped around blindly for a washcloth. She found one, it was used to oil her weapons. She didn't care. Sakura held it under running water for a few seconds and then began to wipe furiously at the blood crusted along her face, neck, and shoulder with shaking hands.

She chanced a glance in the mirror and saw Sasuke standing in the doorway, looking for all the world like he belonged _there_ , in her tiny white bathroom, and yet uncertain of where he belonged in her _life_.

Lowering the bloody rag, she braced herself on the edges of her sink heavily, head bowing and hair hanging limply to shield her face from his view.

"Please don't." She begged, lips trembling and knuckles blanching as she grounded herself with the feel of cold porcelain.

"Sakura—"

"I said _please,"_ her voice broke and she turned away from him, pressing the back of her hand to her quivering mouth.

She had been so careful to keep everything hidden, so meticulous with the way she conducted herself, and it had all come crashing down. She had been careless, had forgotten to tie up loose ends and look where it had gotten her.

Ino could barely stand to look at her without fear, Sai could barely stand to look at her at all, Hinata seemed repulsed, and even Sasuke looked as taken aback as he ever could.

But it was Naruto who had shaken her, who had made this _real._

He had looked at her like she was a monster.

And that hurt most of all.

Her fate was in his hands now; she tried not to feel too bleak, but the anxiety that churned at her gut made her nauseous.

"Sakura," Sasuke tried again, stepping into her small bathroom and making it feel even smaller.

She ignored him. She knew him well enough to know that the nuances in his voice meant he was looking for answers she wasn't ready to give. She'd never be ready.

How could she? How could she explain to the man she'd loved for over a decade why she'd suddenly stopped? Could she lie?

She couldn't.

Because the truth was that she had never stopped loving him. She loved him then, and she loved him now. She loved him as he hovered over her uncertainly, as he took up the space that was hers and made it _his._

But _he_ was not _hers._ And he would never be hers because he was Karin's.

She wanted to laugh. If he caught wind of her thoughts, she'd sure he'd be upset—Sasuke didn't take well to being owned by anyone. But that was the truth of it; Sasuke was not hers and yet she was his.

Gods, she hated this. This _sucked_.

This tentative way in which they stood in each other's space, unwilling to yield or bend to the years of longing and pain and _love_ and _tenderness_ that made them Sasuke and Sakura.

All that _history_ , and yet here they stood with nothing in the present.

She heard the front door slam shut and she wondered what Naruto had done to upset Hinata. Tensions were high enough to make her ribs feel too small for her lungs and suddenly, she needed to do something—anything.

Sakura picked up the rag from where she had thrown it in the sink and held it under running water once more.

She ignored Sasuke's presence at her back as she focused on breathing and wiping. Breathe and wipe. In and out, rinse and repeat.

It wasn't until Sasuke laid a tentative hand on her own that she snapped out of the trance she had unknowingly placed herself in. Her eyes darted to the mirror—her skin was clean. Sasuke was beside her.

"Sakura," he said again, but this time she was silent. "Is that why…"

She turned her head to him in a moment of pique, angry that there was a trace of pity in his voice; but when her eyes landed on his face, her vitriolic feelings dissolved into that of quiet melancholy. Sasuke's face was the most open she had ever seen it.

He looked confused and somewhat hurt, fine lips slightly parted, dark eyes searching for answers in the contours of her face, silently imploring her to answer that one simple question that must have plagued him for months.

Sakura understood then. She understood why he _needed_ Karin, why he _couldn't_ wait for her. Because she would always understand him, even when he didn't say anything. He didn't need to—because she was Sakura and he was Sasuke, and that was that.

She licked her lips and said, so quietly he had to strain to hear her, "Yes, that is why."

And because he was Sasuke and she was Sakura, he understood her—and that was that.

* * *

.

.

While she didn't feel any better, it felt like the air between her and Sasuke had cleared up a little. Even if she still felt like she had been emotionally hung and quartered, it felt different—it felt like closure.

He followed her to the living room and Sakura noted the conspicuous absence of a zombie corpse. Naruto stood in the center of her destroyed living room, looking imposing in his Fire Shadow cloak even as he rubbed at his neck in what she knew to be distress.

She was suddenly so very nervous.

Wringing her hands in front of her, Sakura called his name, "Naruto?"

He turned towards her, and the look in his eye was so sad it made something thick settle painfully at the base of her throat. He placed a scroll on her coffee table who somehow survived the earlier fight, and took a step towards them.

"Sakura-chan," he said softly, voice lilting in that way it did when he was so very disappointed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

And just like that, it was like a dam exploded and all of the stormy emotions she had held tight within her for the last 9 months hit her with such force her legs could barely hold her weight.

Naruto started in alarm as she crumpled to her knees, hands lifting to her face in panic to stop the uncontrollable sobs that kept spilling from her lips. Abstractedly, she knew she was having a panic attack and a mental break down all in one. But, if she were being honest, it had been long overdue.

She tried to tell them, she did, but every time she opened her mouth, her tongue felt thick with tears and sobs and all she could do was weep. Distantly, she felt someone's hand rub soothing circles along her back; and the thought that they would still willingly touch her despite knowing what she was made her cry harder.

After a few moments, she had gathered herself well enough to start speaking and she told them everything.

"How could I tell you?" She cried. "I'm a _monster._ You don't know what I have to do to stay me!"

And yet, she told them anyway. Because hearing about it was nothing compared to living it. By the end of it, Naruto looked slightly green along the edges but so damn pitying it made her cry again. She didn't want to be angry anymore—she was so tired.

It took her a moment to realize that it was Sasuke who was still rubbing circles along her back and she leaned into the small comfort. She told them how Kabuto had many other experiments, how she had spent the last few months searching for a cure, how she had finally made a breakthrough and found something of substance. She told them how, on her next mission, she was heading to find another Sound base to look for more data and then gathering materials to come back and conduct experiments.

But then Naruto's face twisted into a grimace and dread settled like a lead weight in her belly. Tension coiled along her shoulders as he stood from where he had knelt beside her during her fit, watching as he raked his hands through his hair and then rubbed at his throat.

"Sakura," he said, and he wasn't speaking to her as her best friend but as the Hokage and even though she knew it was coming, it still came as a shock when he said, "Sakura, _I'm sorry,_ but you can't stay in the village."

She knew it was coming and she _still_ got angry, _still_ felt hurt and betrayed even though, logically, she'd have done the same thing.

Her lips curled into a sneer as she stood slowly. "So, you're _exiling_ me?"

"No!" Naruto cried, shaking his head, eyes wide, "I'm just sending you on a long-term mission to find the cure, that's all!"

He crossed the distance between them in two large strides, his hands hovering over her shoulders hesitantly before coming down on them gently. His hands were warm against her cold, cold skin and she felt him shudder but keep them there.

Naruto stooped to look her in the eyes; the striking intensity in the depths of his gaze rooting her to the spot. She knew that look: it was the one that made her believe he could do anything—that _she_ could do anything. There was something else in the ocean of his eyes, too—something raw and pure and warm—that she only ever saw directed at her and it left her speechless.

"You're going to come back with the cure," he said, full of conviction, "And when you do, we'll be right where you left us."

He pulled back with a grin, all sunshine and open skies. "And then you can pick up from where you left off!"

Sakura's eyes unintentionally slid over to look at Sasuke and Naruto hurried to correct himself, "Or you can start somewhere new! New beginnings!"

And all of a sudden, the part of her that was every bit irrationally petulant reared its ugly head like a spoiled child.

"But _why?!"_ Sakura cried, brow furrowing in anger, "Why can't I do that here?! I have a _life_ here! Why would you make me leave? Why—"

"Dammit, Sakura!" Naruto swore, his voice breaking in distress. " _I am trying to protect you!"_

He pushed away from her, leaving her silent, as he paced furiously around the room, kicking things over, cursing violently, and she startled when he suddenly turned back to her.

"Do you know," he started feverishly, crossing the distance between them, "Do you _know_ what the villagers and the elders would do if they found out about this? Do you know what they'd _do_ to you?"

He laughed humorlessly and it was such an ugly sound that Sakura physically recoiled from it.

"They'd have me imprison you or execute you. Or they'd demand I use you as a weapon, keep you chained up like an animal to study and let loose whenever they needed someone dead. To them, you'd stop being a person."

Sasuke was as silent as ever from beside her, but she could feel his chakra reacting violently to Naruto's words. Even she was discomfited.

Because he was right—they would try to kill her or make her wish they did.

Naruto breathed deeply, closing his eyes as if searching for inner peace, and when he opened them again they were as calm as still waters.

"Officially, I am going to send you on an indefinite long-term mission of a medical nature," he said evenly. "I'm going to ask Suna to grant you asylum because Gaara owes me a favor and I know he likes you."

"And Sakura," He nudged her chin so that she'd look him in the eyes, "I'm doing this to keep you as safe as I can."

He swept his arm behind him, to her shuttered balcony that overlooked the village. "People fear what they don't understand and I'm going to try my damned hardest to make sure they don't see you as anything but Haruno Sakura: the best medic in the world and the most powerful kunoichi of this generation. I swear it."

He grinned at her, one of those big sunshine Naruto grins that made her feel like everything was going to be alright even if it wasn't, and pulled her and Sasuke into a hug.

"It's a promise of a lifetime."

* * *

.

.

The next morning, after her teammates helped her seal everything she'd need into a few scrolls, she felt as ready to leave as she ever could. Which was not at all, if she were being honest.

She hadn't seen Ino after the incident. She stopped by last night to say goodbye, but Sai had said that the blonde hadn't wanted to see her. It hurt something fierce. Her only comfort was that Sai didn't seem to be as repulsed by her as he was the night before—he must have compartmentalized it with other things that were hard to understand and just accepted it for what it was. He gave her a hug and wished her well on her mission.

So, Sakura made her rounds and said goodbye to all of those who were important to her, promising that she'd write to those who really wanted her to, and she tried not to feel sad and apprehensive as she stood at the gates of what had once been her home—what was _still_ home. She didn't know when she'd see it again, or if at all.

Sasuke stood at her side, he'd be traveling with her until they reached the border of Fire Country where he'd break off to go to Earth and she to Wind. After that, she'd be on her own.

While she wanted to be optimistic and believe that this mission would take a few months, she knew that this was a journey of years. She could be back in as little as two, or as long as ten years—she didn't have a definite answer.

Her first step was to go to Suna. Naruto revealed to her last night that Suna had found another one of Sound's bases and Gaara had been helpful as of late, so she was to go there first.

A few friends had gathered to see them off and Sakura noted sadly that Ino wasn't among them. She just wished she could have said something before she left—explained herself, given her the notes she'd taken, begged for her forgiveness, _anything_.

But life wasn't fair and despite lingering for a half hour after their set departure time in hopes that her blonde best friend would appear, she did not show.

Sakura left with a heavy heart - Konoha and Naruto at her back - and travelled with Sasuke in silence until they reached where the decided to part ways. She smiled at him gently, at ease with the knowledge that he was travelling back to be with his family, and turned to go on her way when he suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him.

His one arm wrapped around her tightly and she wrapped her own arms around him in return, taking in the feel of him. She memorized the feel of hard muscle and the scent of wood and ozone, relishing in what she knew would be her last chance to ever be this close to him again.

"Be safe," he rumbled into her hair. "Fix this annoying mess."

Sakura laughed as he released her and felt nostalgic when he turned and walked away from her. Why is it that Sasuke always seemed to be walking away from her? Just like all the others, it's the last memory she'll have of him for a while.

A few moments later, she was completely alone beneath the heavy canopy of Fire Country trees. Birdsong filled the air even as it felt heavy with the promise of rain, small forest critters running along the expansive branches. The warm, summer breeze caressed her cheeks as she turned in the direction of Suna. Looking out in the distance, seeing nothing but trees for miles, she almost felt a little overwhelmed. But this was her life now and if she wanted to return to her old one, she needed to venture into the unknown to get it back. All her time, all her resources and effort would be spent on finding and developing a cure.

Who was it that said: _"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?"_

Inhaling deeply and with a breath, Sakura took the first step of many.

.

.

 _tbc_

* * *

 _ **Ending A/N:**_ Alright, friends! I wrote over 11k words last night between last chapter and this one, so it'll be a while before I update again, unfortunately.

My favorite part of this chapter is Naruto unwittingly revealing to Hinata his still present feelings for Sakura. I just really liked the way that came together, haha. I know it may seem cruel, but I deeply believe that the love he had for Sakura was too deep to just let go. Even if he had moved on. And everyone knows how centered Naruto is around his team. And yet, in this chapter, he chose Hinata. I think that shows a level of maturity.

In my mind, "Have You Ever See The Rain" starts playing as Sakura's watching Sasuke walk away from her and then as she contemplates the trees in the distance. It's fitting because there's a storm brewing overhead, but she's optimistic that there are sunny days ahead.

I noted that a few of you were concerned with romance in this story. Don't worry, just like every other novel, there'll be a semblance of it, but it won't be the main focus. This fic is mainly about character development and adventure. I also haven't decided on who Sakura would be romancing, yet.

I want to keep this fic flowing in the same tone as The Last of Us. I really want to emulate that sort of development.

What do you guys think of the pace? Any suggestions? I love interacting with you all!

I'm also trying very, very hard to keep Sakura in character and not a Mary-Sue. Yes, she thinks she can't die; but that's because she hasn't tried blowing up her own head. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss and totally dramatic.

What's your favorite part of this chapter? What moments made you feel something?

Till next time, and as always, thanks for reading!


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